EVN loses another 13,000 billion VND in the first half of 2024

EVN continued to incur losses in the first six months of 2024. Photo: EVN

On the afternoon of July 16th, the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises held a meeting to review its work during the first six months of the year and to plan tasks for the remaining six months of 2024.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, General Director of Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), said that in the first six months of the year, the Group ensured electricity supply despite the hot and harsh weather. Accordingly, the nationwide electricity production and import during this period reached 151.73 billion kWh, an increase of 12.4% compared to the same period in 2023, exceeding the set target.

Referring to the financial picture for the first six months of this year, Mr. Tuan revealed a financial deficit of approximately 13,000 billion VND, a decrease compared to the same period last year (a deficit of 15,000 - 16,000 billion VND).

"After two consecutive years of losses, the first six months of this year saw a loss of 13,000 billion VND. By the end of the year, profits will be positive, reducing the losses, but the company will still be incurring losses," an EVN leader informed.

Mr. Tuan stated that the figure of 13,000 billion VND was from the Group's preliminary 6-month report. The official profit figures for the Group will only be available at the end of the year after the audit.

However, in the last six months of the year, he expects to reduce the aforementioned losses to around 10,000 billion VND because of the operation of hydropower plants, which reduces electricity purchase costs. "The group is able to mobilize cheap electricity sources in the last months of the year, thereby optimizing costs," Mr. Tuan said.

Elaborating on the financial picture in 2023, Mr. Tuan affirmed that almost all costs were saved to the maximum extent. "82% of EVN's production costs are electricity purchase costs. This year, we saved 2,000 billion VND in electricity purchase costs. The remaining 18% is for optimizing EVN's system. But even with savings and optimization, this 18% cannot compensate for all the costs," Mr. Tuan stated, highlighting the difficulties the Group is facing.

Previously, EVN announced its consolidated financial report for 2023 with a net loss after tax of over 26,770 billion VND, an increase of 29% compared to the loss of 20,747 billion VND in the previous year.

Fuel prices for electricity generation remain high.

In its summary report on the implementation of the 2023 plan, EVN stated that, despite efforts by EVN and its units to implement cost-saving measures (saving 15% of recurring expenses and 20-50% of major repair costs), and despite two adjustments to the average retail electricity price (a 3% increase from May 4, 2023, and a 4.5% increase from November 9, 2023), the costs of electricity production were still insufficient to cover production costs, resulting in a second consecutive year of losses in electricity production and business.

According to EVN, the main reasons for the increase in electricity production costs include persistently high fuel prices.

Furthermore, the power generation structure is unfavorable due to low water levels in hydropower reservoirs, leading to reduced hydropower output. Meanwhile, increased mobilization of coal-fired and oil-fired thermal power plants, as well as renewable energy sources, results in higher production costs compared to hydropower. The cost of purchasing electricity on the market is high, and payment costs are higher than the contracted electricity price.

Source: https://laodong.vn/kinh-doanh/evn-lo-them-13000-ti-dong-nua-dau-nam-2024-1367306.ldo