Who benefits, who is affected?
On April 22, 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision 963 regulating peak hours, off-peak hours and normal hours of the national power system. After that, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to amend Circular 60/2025 regulating electricity selling prices to immediately apply the new electricity time frame. The National Power System and Electricity Market Operation Company (NSMO) and Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) also proposed to apply the new time frame in June.
According to Mr. Bui Quoc Hung - Deputy Director of the Electricity Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), previously, peak and off-peak hours were divided into 2 phases during the day: noon peak and evening peak. Shifting peak hours to the evening also has impacts on businesses.
For electricity-using customers (supply loads), they are divided into industrial loads and commercial service loads. For industrial loads, they are divided into many other types, for example, garment manufacturing enterprises are divided into 2 shifts (morning - afternoon shifts), but there are also large electricity consumption manufacturing enterprises divided into 3 shifts (shift 3 is usually low electricity prices during low hours at night).
For commercial service businesses such as shopping centers, using from morning to night, especially in hot noon, they will use more, so it will be beneficial. Meanwhile, restaurants and hotels use more electricity at night, falling into peak hours, so they will be affected.
Regarding power sources, Mr. Hung said that for small hydropower plants with reserves, they will generate according to a water storage and power generation strategy. When generating at peak hours, they will be charged high prices, so at other times, they store water so that at peak hours they will generate at a higher maximum capacity. These are some of the impacts in adjusting peak and low hours in the power system.
EVN plans to update a series of meters
Regarding the adjustment of peak hours, Mr. Ngo Son Hai, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), said that after the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued a document on the application of adjusted hours and is amending Circular 60/2025 to officially stipulate the effective time, the unit has proactively deployed preparation work.
Accordingly, the adjustment requires updating the time frame configuration on the meter system. Because there are many different types of meters, the implementation process requires a lot of time and resources, with a large workload.
Internally, the unit has directed general corporations to develop plans, assign to each electricity unit to fully prepare human resources, vehicles and materials, ready to deploy immediately when the circular takes effect. The implementation process also takes time, may last for several weeks, but the circular still allows deployment for a certain period of time.
We will also choose, prioritize choosing to install immediately with large customers first, customers who can adjust to be timely (if the Circular is issued in time) for the next heat waves. Thus, those businesses look at the new peak hours, they can adjust their usage needs accordingly, which will bring efficiency. At the same time, because adjusting the time frame is also new, EVN has assigned power corporations to propagate this policy to customers.
Here, it is necessary to be clearer, the policy impacts that need to be clarified do not affect living customers because the prices are the same throughout the day, but mainly focus on production and business customers. Living customers still use the same prices, not affecting costs," said Mr. Ngo Son Hai.
However, Mr. Hai also said that during peak hours in the afternoon, high daily use will be very difficult without solar power support. "I really hope that all customers, including household customers who are not affected, will try to avoid peak hours, which will bring general efficiency," Mr. Hai said.
