The Ministry of Industry and Trade is seeking opinions on the draft Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 60/2025/TT-BCT related to the implementation of electricity selling prices. The biggest bottleneck currently is that according to the old regulations in Circular 60, the new peak, off-peak and normal hours (issued in Decision 963/QD-BCT dated April 22, 2026) are only effective from the date the State implements the most recent adjustment of the average retail electricity price.
However, forecasting the electricity supply situation in 2026, especially the dry season months, will face countless challenges due to extreme heat and global fuel price fluctuations. Faced with this pressure, Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) has issued a document proposing to allow the immediate implementation of the new price calculation time frame in this dry season.
To create a practical basis, the Ministry of Industry and Trade decided to amend Clause 1, Article 21 and abolish Point a, Clause 1, Article 20 of Circular 60, separating the effective part of the peak and low hours from the electricity price increase roadmap for immediate application.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the peak and low hour frame (CTĐ time frame) of the national power system is currently being applied according to the provisions of Circular No. 16/2014/TT-BCT, which has been applied for 12 years. Since 2019, with the strong penetration and rapid increase in the proportion of solar power in the power source structure, the power mobilization chart of all types of power sources has had significant changes.
At the same time, the electricity consumption structure of load components also has a major change, when electricity consumption of industrial load components increased from nearly 30% to more than 50% of total commercial electricity, electricity consumption of civil - household load components decreased from about 50% to nearly 33%, significantly changing the load chart compared to 12 years ago.
Therefore, in the context that the power source structure has had many changes, especially the rapid increase of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, adjusting the power transition time frame is necessary to accurately reflect the electricity supply and demand characteristics in the new context.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the reasonable determination of power transition time frames of the national power system also contributes to improving the electricity load coefficient (ratio between electricity used and maximum capacity), helping to optimize energy efficiency.
Through the electricity price mechanism according to the CTĐ time frame, customers will have the motivation to adjust their electricity consumption behavior to reduce electricity purchase costs; reduce use during peak hours and switch to off-peak hours, normal hours. This helps flatten the load chart, reduce the difference between maximum capacity and average capacity, thereby improving the efficiency of exploiting power sources, reducing pressure on the power system during peak hours.
For power systems with significant renewable energy ratios like Vietnam, designing peak hours in contrast to high power generation hours of renewable energy sources (deviating from the time frame with high renewable energy sources and/or coinciding with the time when renewable energy sources are decreasing) will create motivation for customers to develop power storage devices to rebalance renewable energy sources at times when the system needs to replenish power.
The reasonable adjustment of the power transition time frame of the national power system will contribute to improving the operational efficiency of the power system. When the load chart is distributed more evenly over time, the power system will reduce the pressure to mobilize traditional power sources during peak hours, while limiting overcapacity during off-peak hours. This helps improve reliability, safety and flexibility in power system operation.
On April 22, 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision No. 963/QD-BCT regulating the new CTĐ time frame of the national power system according to the provisions of Decision No. 14/2025/QD-TTg and Circular No. 60/2025/TT-BCT. The power supply situation in 2026, especially the dry season months, is forecast to face many difficulties due to the impact of global factors, rapid and unpredictable developments.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade assesses that the peak, low and normal hours specified in Decision No. 963/QD-BCT will be one of the effective solutions to contribute to reducing the risk of electricity supply and demand imbalance, especially during peak hours in the afternoon.
