Maximum support is needed for retail electricity prices for charging stations to encourage

In the report submitted by the Ministry of Transport to the Deputy Prime Minister on policies to support the conversion to electric cars, one of the solutions proposed by this agency is to offer preferential electricity prices equal to the production price of electricity.

This content received the approval of both businesses and many users, because this will be a condition for users to save costs, thereby helping to promote the conversion to using green vehicles.

Regarding this issue, in the draft decision on the new retail electricity price structure, replacing Decision 28/2014 sent to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed 3 options on electricity prices for electric vehicle charging activities.

Option 1: The retail electricity price structure for electric vehicle charging stations and poles is built on the basis of electricity prices reflecting the cost of electricity production that electric vehicle charging stations/poles cause to the power system. The advantage of this option is that the retail electricity price structure is built on the basis of electricity prices reflecting the cost of electricity production that electric vehicle charging stations/poles cause to the power system, thus ensuring cost allocation to electricity customers.

However, this plan must add a new customer group to the retail electricity price structure. Meanwhile, other customer groups are still implemented according to the roadmap so that electricity prices reflect costs (production prices are still lower than the allocated prices reflecting costs; business prices are still higher than the allocated prices reflecting costs).

Option 2 is to apply the electricity price for electric vehicle charging activities at the business price. The Ministry of Industry and Trade assesses the advantage of this option as it does not require adding new subjects to the current retail price structure. However, the disadvantage is that it may impact the electric vehicle development policy by increasing the cost of charging electricity.

Option 3 is based on the electricity production price. This option also does not require adding a new subject to the current retail price structure and may impact the electric vehicle development policy by increasing the cost of charging.

Of the above, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is leaning towards option 2, which is to use the business electricity price as the basis.

Electric vehicle charging station at Petrolimex Ha Giang gas station

Evaluating the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, an economic expert in the field of prices said that the option of calculating according to actual business electricity prices only has the advantage of being "convenient". The reason is that the authorities do not have to add new subjects in the current retail price structure. On the contrary, the negative impact is very large because the above option causes an increase in charging costs, thereby affecting the country's electric vehicle development policy. According to experts, the retail price of electricity for electric vehicle charging stations needs to be calculated in the direction of maximum support, reducing costs for users in order to move towards the habit of consuming clean energy and protecting the environment.

Regarding the positive option, many experts choose to calculate based on the production cost that the charging station causes to the system or according to the electricity production price (option 1 and option 3 according to the document of the Ministry of Industry and Trade).

Compared to other countries in the world, experts say that support for charging infrastructure is currently quite modest. Some policies have been raised recently, but most of them are still "on paper" and have not really come into effect.

Therefore, experts recommend that Vietnam needs to build a comprehensive strategy with a full range of multi-faceted incentive policies to help develop charging infrastructure, support businesses investing in green sectors, and motivate users to change their consumption habits, from energy that is harmful to the environment to clean energy sources that do not cause smoke, do not emit gases, and do not make noise.

This is also the trend that civilized countries are implementing to improve the quality of life for people.

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