Only allocate reasonable costs to retail electricity prices
In the 3rd Draft of the Decree amending and supplementing Decree 72/2025 on the mechanism and time for adjusting average retail electricity prices, the Ministry of Industry and Trade officially proposed to add a provision allowing Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) to calculate other costs that have not been fully accounted for before in the average retail electricity price.
Commenting on this Draft, Mr. Ha Dang Son - Director of the Center for Energy Research and Green Growth said that - it is appropriate to include unusually arising costs such as the difference in fuel prices for power generation (increasing from 2022 and causing losses due to the cost of electricity production being higher than retail prices) or costs arising from implementing the Government's priority and incentive policies in electricity prices.
In EVN's Financial Report, since 2021, the Group's business activities have been losing money in the electricity sales service segment due to the failure to adjust electricity prices in a timely manner, and the loss continued to persist in the following years due to objective reasons.
For example, implementing the Government's direction on implementing electricity price reduction and electricity bill reduction for electricity customers to remove difficulties in the context of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic according to Resolution No. 41/NQ-CP dated April 9, 2020 of the Government;
Implement the Government's direction on curbing inflation during the COVID-19 period and subsequent economic recovery; especially in the context of large fluctuations in world fuel prices while still ensuring adequate electricity supply for economic growth and social security;
Price allowance according to FIT price mechanism for renewable energy projects ( sunroof, wind) with electricity purchase prices higher than retail electricity prices...
However, according to Mr. Ha Dang Son, although there are objective reasons to gradually allocate costs for EVN's losses to retail electricity prices as well as have a mechanism to inspect and supervise electricity production and business costs in the period up to 2024, the new draft Decree still has unfinished points.
"The financial statements for 2022, 2023 and 2024 that have been audited and published on the EVN website do not show details of the costs that constitut the losses of EVN. Therefore, if only relying on the data published on business performance in annual financial reports, it will not ensure transparency in the allocation of costs in electricity prices and will create negative public opinion for this proposal.
Therefore, the draft content needs to require EVN to report in detail the costs that constitute the loss. At the same time, only allocate reasonable expenses to the average retail electricity price, instead of accepting the allocation of all losses according to audited financial statements" - Mr. Ha Dang Son emphasized.
The reason for the loss of VND 44,792 billion needs to be clarified
For the Draft Submission of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of National Defense proposed to review and clarify the specific causes of the factors leading to the accumulated loss of VND 44,792 billion; on that basis, determine the contents of accumulated losses related to direct costs for electricity production and supply, report to the Government for consideration and decision.
Explaining this content, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that EVN's loss is due to minimizing the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on social security and economic development of the country, electricity prices in 2022 will remain unchanged and will not increase when input parameters such as import coal prices increase due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
"Although the electricity price in 2023 has been adjusted, it is at a moderate level, so the adjusted electricity price is still much lower than the electricity price that needs to be adjusted, leading to not fully recovering arising costs. Therefore, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 72/2025/ND-CP to continue perfecting regulations on mechanisms, ensuring a basis for implementation, in order to solve problems arising in practice" - the Ministry of Industry and Trade explained.
