Must ensure transparency and reasonableness
Mr. Nguyen Tien Thoa - Chairman of the Vietnam Price Appraisal Association, former Director of the Price Management Department (Ministry of Finance) - said that the regulation of electricity prices must comply with the principle: Ensure compensation for production costs, correct cost calculation, reasonable and sufficient cost calculation and necessary profit for reproduction in accordance with the provisions of law.
According to him, the problem here is that if the subjectivity of the business is weak, causing the price to not be able to cover costs, leading to losses in production and business activities, it is not discussed, the business will take responsibility.
However, if the price is decided by the competent authority for the overall economic and social benefits but the decision on the price is lower than the production cost, the electricity price causes a price difference and the cost, causing a deficit in the cash flow of the production and business unit (the negative cash flow, or what is called a loss), it is inevitable that businesses cannot preserve State capital. Therefore, there needs to be appropriate solutions.
To create consensus in society on the above issue, according to Mr. Nguyen Tien Thoa, the decisive thing is to ensure transparency and reasonableness, and first of all, the Ministry of Industry and Trade needs to clarify the following issues:
First, it is necessary to clarify and explain honestly and accurately whether the accumulated losses are due to objectivity (the State values lower than the correctly calculated, fully, reasonably, and validly calculated costs) or losses due to weak business, due to calculating unreasonable and valid costs that are not allowed to be included in the price according to the provisions of law.
Second, the auditing side must clarify, verify the production and business results data, financial reports and check whether the accounting is in accordance with the provisions of law and immediately remove the contents, information, costs, and revenue and expenditure that are not in accordance with the law from the audit results.
The next step is to control which costs are included in the price, which costs are not included in the price; the costs included in the price are guaranteed to be correct, complete, reasonable, and valid according to the provisions of law (must have invoices and documents, and have economic - technical norms). On that basis, to find a reasonable cost (excluding unreasonable costs) compared to the selling price and publicly announce it according to the provisions of law.
Talking to Lao Dong, Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoach - Member of the Scientific Council of the Vietnam Energy Association said that it is difficult to sympathize with the entire calculation of this loss in the electricity sale price. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly identify which loss is reasonable to allocate, but it is impossible to arbitrarily " repay EVN's loss as much as it loses" in electricity prices.
He emphasized that Decree 72 has just been issued by the Government and took effect from March 28, which is only a few months old, not yet complete. However, the agency advising on the development of the decree, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, has not fully calculated the issues related to the pricing structure. Raising the issue of EVN's losses and then quickly proposing to amend the decree to compensate for losses for businesses is not convincing.
Will it increase electricity prices?
Talking with Mr. Ho Sy Quang - Deputy Head of the Electricity Price Management Department (Department of Electricity, Ministry of Industry and Trade) - said that EVN's loss of more than VND44,000 billion was made public in 2023 - 2024, through auditing reports and announcement of production and business results. In fact, this period is heavily affected by geopolitical factors. In 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, input material prices for electricity production increased dramatically, while imported oil and coal prices at one point reached 350 - 400 USD/ton.
Meanwhile, to stabilize the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, retail electricity prices in 2022 will remain unchanged. On the one hand, input costs have increased sharply, while output has not been adjusted in a timely manner, leading to difficulties for EVN. Regarding the handling of direct costs for electricity production that have not been recovered in previous years, in principle, if not accounted for in time, they must be recovered in the following years.
The loss arising from 2022 if calculated correctly and fully, it needs to be recovered in 2023; the loss cost in 2023 must be calculated in 2024. However, due to the need for support and economic development at each time, these costs have not been immediately included in the electricity price, so the inevitable consequences will have to be included in the following stages. If you don't adjust in advance, then adjust later, this is inevitable.
"Of course, including these costs in electricity prices will more or less create a certain impact. However, according to regulations, how to include, allocate, and choose any time must be carefully calculated by EVN and coordinated with competent authorities, including the General Statistics Office, to assess the comprehensive impact. This is not only to handle EVN's difficulties but also to consider the impact on people, businesses and socio-economic development," said Mr. Quang.
According to Mr. Quang, the entire loss of more than VND44,000 billion may not be included in the electricity price immediately.
"EVN and State management agencies will have a reasonable allocation plan to minimize negative impacts on the economy as well as people's lives," affirmed a representative of the Electricity Price Management Department.
