On the afternoon of November 30, with 439/463 delegates participating in the vote, the National Assembly passed the Electricity Law (amended). The law takes effect from February 1, 2025.
Reporting on the acceptance of the draft law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy said that regarding nuclear power development, the National Assembly Standing Committee believes that specific policies on investment and construction of nuclear power projects have been stipulated in the Law on Atomic Energy.
Therefore, accepting the opinions of delegates, agreeing with the Government's opinion to revise the draft law in the direction of only providing general regulations on nuclear power development planning.
Specific regulations on nuclear power plants are implemented according to the law on atomic energy, other relevant legal provisions and are stated in Clause 10, Article 5 of the draft Law after being absorbed and revised.
Regarding electricity development in rural areas, ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, border areas, islands and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, taking into account the opinions of delegates, the law has been revised and reflected in Clause 3, Clause 13, Article 5, Article 17.
It clarifies the mobilization of investment capital for electricity development in rural areas, ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, border areas, islands and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions and the State's support for electricity bills used for living purposes of poor households and social policy households.
The development of renewable energy depends on renewable energy sources, natural conditions, and technical infrastructure; in cases where rural, mountainous, and island areas meet sufficient conditions, preferential mechanisms will be applied to invest in the construction of renewable energy power plants according to the provisions of this law.
Regarding the content of eliminating cross-subsidy in electricity prices, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly finds that gradually reducing and eliminating cross-subsidy in electricity prices between customer groups and between regions is necessary in accordance with the spirit of Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW.
Currently, the retail electricity price is applied uniformly nationwide, with cross-subsidy of electricity prices between regions. For cross-subsidy of electricity prices between customer groups, it is necessary to gradually reduce and eventually eliminate it through the construction of a retail electricity price structure that reflects costs according to the characteristics of electricity consumption caused to the power system.
The implementation of cross-subsidy reduction in electricity prices depends on many factors (such as the progress of implementation and the level of restructuring of the electricity sector, feasible financial policies/tools to implement cross-subsidy reduction...), and needs to be carefully and thoroughly researched and considered to develop a specific roadmap; the regulation to immediately eliminate cross-subsidy in electricity prices is not feasible.
Therefore, the draft law only stipulates the roadmap for eliminating cross-subsidy in electricity prices and assigns the Ministry of Industry and Trade to submit to the Prime Minister for approval a roadmap for implementation in sync with the levels of electricity market development as shown in Point d, Clause 2, Article 39 and Point c, Clause 3, Article 50.
Accordingly, Article 39 of the newly passed law stipulates reform of the electricity price mechanism, gradually reducing and eventually eliminating cross-subsidies between customer groups and between regions.
In response to the delegates' opinions, the law stipulates that the winning electricity price is the maximum electricity price for the electricity buyer to negotiate with the winning investor. The Government is assigned to specify the details of the negotiation and conclusion of investment and business project contracts and electricity purchase and sale contracts with the winning investor on the basis of ensuring the rights of the parties in Clause 2, Point c, Clause 3, Article 19.
For the futures electricity market, this is a new issue, with no practical experience in Vietnam, so a thorough impact assessment is needed before it is included in the draft law. The draft law only stipulates general principles and assigns the Government to provide detailed regulations as shown in Clause 6, Article 45.
