Commenting on the draft Decision of the Prime Minister regulating the structure of retail electricity prices, the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) proposed maintaining the regulation of changing electricity prices once every 3 months, instead of shortening it to 2 months as recently proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

VCCI said the mechanism for adjusting the average electricity price in the year is based on quarterly data. That is, every 3 months, the electricity industry will synthesize data once. This quarterly data synthesis is also consistent with accounting practices.

Therefore, VCCI recommends that the drafting agency reconsider the time to adjust the average electricity price to at least 3 months to match the time of data synthesis.

Currently, retail electricity prices are implemented according to Decision 05/2024. The time between two electricity price adjustments is 3 months if input costs are reviewed and checked, causing prices to increase by 3% or more.

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VCCI proposes to maintain the electricity price mechanism of adjusting once every 3 months. Photo: Hoang Giam

Previously, at the end of December 2024, in the draft on the mechanism for adjusting the average retail electricity price sent to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to shorten the time for adjusting the average retail electricity price from the current 3 months to 2 months, starting from the most recent change.

Price adjustments will be made when electricity production costs fluctuate by 2% or more, lower than the current 3% regulation.

Explaining this proposal, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the retail electricity price should be reflected and adjusted promptly according to actual fluctuations in input parameters, compensating for reasonable and valid costs with reasonable profits to preserve and develop business capital of enterprises in accordance with the socio-economic conditions of each period and the level of the competitive electricity market.

At the same time, this is also consistent with the direction of the Government Standing Committee on avoiding jerkiness in the process of adjusting electricity prices, which can be adjusted many times a year.

In case the average electricity price needs to be adjusted to be 10% or more higher than the current average electricity price or affects the macroeconomic situation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to inspect, review and report to the Prime Minister for consideration and comments.

If necessary, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to report to the Price Management Steering Committee before reporting to the Prime Minister.

In the draft Decision of the Prime Minister regulating the structure of the new retail electricity price list, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to improve the structure of the retail electricity price list for household use to 5 levels instead of 6 levels. Accordingly, the highest electricity price level could be up to more than 3,700 VND/kWh, higher than the highest level in the current price list (3,302 VND/kWh).

Thus, compared to current household electricity prices, customers using 400 or more units will have to pay higher electricity prices.

New household electricity prices: Electricity bills from 1.4 million, price increased by 3,700 VND/kWh The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to improve the structure of the retail electricity price list for household electricity to 5 levels instead of 6 levels. The highest electricity price level could be up to more than 3,700 VND/kWh, higher than the highest level in the current price list (3,302 VND/kWh).