If EVN continues to incur losses, its leader should resign.

Frequent power outages will cause public frustration.

Speaking in the corridors of the National Assembly on the afternoon of June 10th, Representative Pham Van Hoa (from Dong Thap province) discussed the electricity shortages and rolling power cuts that have occurred in recent days.

Mr. Hoa acknowledged that electricity shortages have been occurring for many years, almost every year, causing frustration among the people. Electricity is an extremely important issue for production, business activities, and daily life.

"For example, in Hanoi these past few days, during this heatwave, people have been very frustrated and feel sorry for the electricity sector because of the electricity shortage," Representative Pham Van Hoa shared, while also expressing concern about why this electricity shortage has persisted for many years without being resolved.

Regarding the current situation of power outages in many localities, Mr. Pham Van Hoa stated that if there is insufficient electricity supply, EVN is forced to cut off power. He argued that power cuts are inevitable when there is no electricity, because "if there isn't enough supply, how can we provide it?"

"We see some hydropower plants with dead water levels, unable to generate electricity. This is also an objective cause related to nature; if it doesn't rain, how can there be water?" Mr. Hoa said.

National Assembly Deputy Pham Van Hoa (Photo: Hoang Bich).

The representative also stated that the Director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority had recently apologized to the people for the power outages and had also outlined tasks and solutions for restoring electricity in the near future.

"We'll see how EVN manages the power grid for people and businesses in the future, and then we'll make our assessments of EVN," Mr. Hoa said.

On June 9th, in an interview with the press, Mr. Vu Hong Thanh, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, stated that the electricity shortage had been warned about several years prior.

Mr. Thanh believes that if Vietnam's economic growth rate recovers to around 6-7%, electricity shortages will become even more frequent, not just as they are now.

Regarding the causes of the power shortage, the electricity sector claims that the hot weather has led to a surge in electricity consumption, requiring rolling power cuts to reduce the load. However, another reality pointed out is that in recent years, no major projects have been invested in, and even if there were, their implementation has been slow.

According to the Chairman of the Economic Committee, "this matter has already been reported." Mr. Thanh stated that the Economic Committee has clearly identified the businesses that are lagging behind in power generation projects, which are being invested in by energy corporations including EVN, PVN, and TKV.

The government cannot subsidize EVN indefinitely.

Speaking about EVN's business results in 2022, delegate Pham Van Hoa said, "If it continues to incur losses in 2023 and 2024, the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) will bear a very large responsibility."

"If the losses continue, the head of the industry should resign to allow someone else to manage EVN better. The State cannot subsidize EVN every year. This money is from the budget, the people's money, so it's natural that the people are upset," Mr. Hoa said.

According to delegate Pham Van Hoa, responsibilities need to be clearly defined, and the responsible agencies need to conduct inspections and audits.

"If the loss is due to objective reasons, it's acceptable, but if it's not due to objective reasons, it's unacceptable," Mr. Hoa said.

Mr. Hoa believes that with the involvement of inspectors and auditors, the reasons behind the 26,000 billion VND loss that EVN recently reported will be brought to light.

Previously, during the socio-economic discussion session on May 25th, many National Assembly deputies raised the issue that EVN incurred losses of over 26,000 billion VND in 2022, while its power generation companies, including EVN's subsidiaries, still made thousands of billions of VND in profits and had tens of thousands of billions of VND deposited in banks.

In a recent document sent to the Economic Committee and National Assembly deputies, EVN explained that it is necessary to consider the figure of tens of trillions of dong deposited alongside short-term debt of approximately 60,045 billion dong at the same time held by its member companies.

According to EVN, the short-term debts mentioned above indicate a very large amount of borrowing at the units. "The need to repay principal and interest on loans this year is very high, requiring the units to maintain sufficient balances to repay debts on time, in order to ensure creditworthiness for future loans," the corporation explained.

In addition, this money will be used to pay off debts to suppliers and to pay for electricity purchased from rooftop solar power plants and small hydropower plants at the beginning of next month, according to signed contracts.

This money will also be used to invest in a distribution and retail system to meet the growing demand for electricity (power consumption) and cover production and business costs.

"Electricity corporations must proactively balance cash flow appropriately to ensure timely payment of principal and interest on loans to credit institutions, payments to suppliers and power plants as regulated, and are responsible for improving the efficiency of capital utilization within their units," EVN stated .

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/dbqh-nguyen-van-hoa-neu-evn-tiep-tuc-lo-nguoi-dung-dau-nen-tu-chuc-a612032.html