On the Government Information Portal, Construction Investment Joint Stock Company (HCMC) reflected that they are operating in the field of design consulting, supervision consulting and construction of power lines and substations with voltage up to 35 kV.
According to the provisions of Article 38 of Decree No. 17/2020/ND-CP and Decree No. 137/2013/ND-CP, consulting units in the field of electricity (wires and transformer stations) must have an electricity operating license.
However, Decree No. 61/2025/ND-CP dated March 4, 2025 of the Government has many new regulations: Chapter II does not mention the conditions for issuing electricity operating licenses for consulting units.
Article 26 abolishes the regulations from Article 29 to Article 47 of Decree No. 137/2013/ND-CP; at the same time, Article 21 stipulates exemption from electricity operating licenses for works with a capacity of less than 30 MW and connected to the national power system.
Construction Investment Joint Stock Company asks, currently, for power lines and transformer stations invested by customers, connected to 22 kV medium voltage, capacity under 30 MW in Ho Chi Minh City, do consulting and construction units still have to apply for power operation licenses?
Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has the following opinions:
Currently, the issuance of electricity operating licenses is implemented according to the provisions of the Electricity Law of 2024 passed by the National Assembly on November 30, 2024, effective from February 1, 2025; Decree No. 61/2025/ND-CP dated March 4, 2025 detailing a number of articles of the Electricity Law on electricity operating licenses and Decree No. 146/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 of the Government regulating decentralization and decentralization in the fields of industry and commerce.
Clause 1, Article 30 of the Electricity Law of 2024 stipulates: "The fields of electricity operation that must be licensed for electricity operation include: Power generation, power transmission, power distribution, wholesale electricity, retail electricity".
In addition, according to the provisions of Clause 19, Article 1 of Law No. 57/2024/QH15 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnerships and the Law on Bidding, regulations on conditional investment and business lines in electricity activities include "Power generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale, retail electricity activities".
Thus, currently, specialized electricity consulting activities (including design consulting and electricity construction supervision consulting) have been removed from the list of conditional investment and business lines and do not require an electricity operating license.
For the fields of power generation, power transmission, power distribution, wholesale and retail electricity, it is necessary to comply with the provisions of the Electricity Law of 2024, Decree No. 61/2025/ND-CP dated March 4, 2025 of the Government and Decree No. 146/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 of the Government.
