'Stepping stone' to implement 2-component electricity price

Create transparency and fairness

Photo caption — Workers of the Power Transmission Company check equipment of the 220 kV Xuan Mai substation. Photo (documentary): Huy Hung/VNA

At a recent working session with units under the Ministry, along with leaders of Vietnam Electricity (EVN) and Power Corporations on the new two-component electricity price mechanism, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed that the pilot implementation of the two-component electricity price from January 1, 2026 for large electricity customers is an important step in implementing the Electricity Law and Resolution 70-NQ/TW of the Politburo on ensuring national energy security until 2030, with a vision to 2045, aiming to apply from January 1, 2026 for large electricity customers. This mechanism includes capacity price and electricity price, different from the current one-component mechanism, which only calculates according to the amount of electricity used. The new calculation method accurately reflects the nature of electricity use of each customer, while creating transparency and fairness.

Expert Ha Dang Son - Director of the Center for Energy and Green Growth Research said that the two-component electricity price (including electricity price based on capacity and electricity consumption) will help the electricity seller, i.e. the electricity company, to orient the demand. In this case, the electricity buyer must calculate and commit more clearly and transparently and will have to pay according to that commitment. Therefore, the electricity buyer will have to be more responsible for the expected capacity. This is the problem to optimize costs for both sides. In particular, the electricity seller will be more proactive in production and business, in investing in the power grid and power sources instead of being passive in calculating the load of the electricity buyer.

Sharing this view, Dr. Doan Van Binh - former Director of the Institute of Energy Science said that the current application of a single-component electricity price (paying only according to the level of electricity consumed) does not accurately reflect the costs incurred by the electricity industry, forcing investors in the electricity sector to make large investments but not fully calculating the investment efficiency for sources, lines, and transformer stations to operate, thereby causing waste, affecting the costs of the entire system and the cost of electricity production. Therefore, applying a two-component electricity price will create a fairer price for sellers, buyers and electricity users.

In fact, in the world, the calculation of 2-component electricity price has been implemented by many countries, mostly applied to customers using electricity for production and business purposes; some countries apply it to household electricity. In ASEAN countries, 2-component electricity price is applied in most countries to give the right signal to both electricity producers and electricity consumers in improving economic efficiency from the allocation, as well as using resources reasonably.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Nam - Deputy General Director of EVN said that in Southeast Asia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia... all apply 2-component electricity prices. In Asia, there are Japan, Korea, China, India, and developed countries such as France, UK, and US have all applied 2-component electricity prices.

Urgent preparation for deployment

For effective implementation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade directed relevant units to coordinate in reviewing and completing the 2-component electricity price project, assessing the impact and submitting it to the Ministry's leaders before October 15, 2025.

Accordingly, the leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade requested the Electricity Department to preside with relevant units and EVN to review, calculate, and propose amendments to Decision No. 14/2025/QD-TTg dated May 29, 2025 of the Prime Minister "Regulations on the structure of retail electricity prices" based on current legal bases and implementation in practice; at the same time, urgently develop a Circular amending Circular No. 16/2014/TT-BCT dated May 29, 2014 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade "Regulations on the implementation of electricity prices" to stipulate the method of building a price framework.

“This must be done in parallel with the roadmap for building a price framework for the two-component electricity price mechanism. In particular, EVN must play a leading role, proposing a method for building a price framework, ensuring the principle of correctly calculating, fully calculating, and calculating all costs in the process of electricity production and trading, including transmission costs,” Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized.

At the same time, the units will review and propose amendments to Decision No. 14/2025/QD-TTg and develop a Circular amending Circular 16, ensuring the principle of correctly and fully calculating electricity costs, including transmission costs. At the same time, relevant agencies will continue to advise the Government on deciding on the group of subjects applying the 2-component electricity price mechanism, hiring consultants to build transparent operating software, to be completed before October 20, 2025.

EVN Deputy General Director Nguyen Xuan Nam said that EVN is focusing on implementing the Minister's instructions so that by January 1, 2026, it will pilot and deploy to 5 Power Corporations to prepare. However, from now until January 1, 2026, there are still many tasks to be completed such as: amending electricity price tables, amending Decision No. 14/2025/QD-TTg dated May 29, 2025 of the Prime Minister "Regulations on the structure of retail electricity price tables", guiding circulars, working with customers, media agencies and preliminary assessment of the impacts of 2-component electricity prices...

According to the direction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the pilot phase, the mechanism will be applied to large production customers with a consumption output of 200,000 kWh/month or more and connected to a voltage level of 22 kV or more. In the period from now until December 31, 2025, two bills will be run in parallel, one according to the current mechanism for actual payment, one according to the 2-component mechanism for customers to refer to and adjust their electricity usage behavior before the pilot implementation from January 1, 2026.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/buoc-dem-trien-khai-gia-dien-2-thanh-phan-20251001090603977.htm