Proposal to abolish the single-purchaser model
In the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Electricity Law being appraised by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (the drafting agency) assessed that although Vietnam's competitive electricity market has been operating for nearly 14 years (officially from July 1, 2012), in which competition has been operating in the electricity generation and wholesale stages.
However, after conducting a review and overall assessment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that in addition to the achieved results, there are still some shortcomings.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the proportion of electricity sources directly participating in the competitive electricity market is still low and tends to decrease, especially many electricity sources do not participate in the electricity market (new domestic natural gas sources, renewable energy (NLTT), multi-purpose strategic hydropower, energy-intensive hydropower, BOT,...), affecting the level of competition in the electricity market; complicating the optimal operation of the electricity market and the electricity system.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that it is necessary to supplement appropriate mechanisms to create signals to attract investment and directly participate in the electricity market, especially baseline and flexible power sources such as imported LNG gas.
Although the competitive wholesale electricity market has been operated, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the level of competition is still very limited, basically there is still a single buyer model implemented by EVN and directly affiliated Power Corporations.
At the same time, risk management tools and mechanisms for units participating in the market are still limited or have not been applied, for example, financial electronics market tools for long-term risk management are not separate from the physical electronics market (instant market); Bilateral contract mechanisms between electronics market participants and other electronics buyers (excluding EVN) have not been truly formed, most new electronics purchase and sale contracts of electronics units are still signed with EVN, while Power Corporations have not signed contracts with any other plants besides EVN's dependent accounting electronics plants.
To develop the wholesale electricity market effectively and gradually implement the competitive retail electricity market, it is necessary to eliminate the single-purchaser model through policies on transferring electricity purchase and sale contracts signed by EVN to other electricity wholesale units such as Power Corporations..." - the Ministry of Industry and Trade emphasized.
The separation of distribution and retail costs is not clearly implemented
In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that the cross-subsidy mechanism between Power Corporations and between customer groups has not been implemented, and the internal regulation of EVN is still maintained by the internal wholesale price. The separation of distribution - retail costs has not been clearly implemented, Power Corporations directly under EVN have only implemented separation in accounting books, not separated legally or organizationally.
Regarding the direct electricity purchase and sale mechanism, some difficulties and obstacles arising from practice have also been recorded during the implementation process, especially in clarifying the scope, expanding the subjects, conditions, and responsibilities of subjects participating in the DPPA mechanism, as well as regulations on direct electricity purchase and sale prices, service usage costs, transmission infrastructure, electricity metering and payment,...
It is necessary to review and amend regulations on direct electricity purchase and sale mechanisms to effectively and uniformly implement in practice, meeting the tasks of Resolution No. 70-NQ/TW, regulations in Resolution No. 253/2025/QH15, and at the same time continue to expand the participants to implement DPPA more effectively," the Ministry of Industry and Trade emphasized.
