These are the contents shared by economic , financial, energy and business experts at the seminar "Sustainable development of the electricity industry - Issues raised" organized by the Government Electronic Information Portal on the morning of September 10, in Hanoi .
There are 742 businesses that buy and sell electricity wholesale and retail.
Speaking at the seminar, Dr. Nguyen Si Dung, former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office, said that recently, the Prime Minister has always emphasized the requirement and decisive command to ensure "meeting enough electricity demand in all situations".
Vietnam is a developing country, many issues need to be balanced and compensated in the calculation of electricity prices to serve social security goals are still being applied. Therefore, the current electricity price is still not calculated correctly with the cost of production.
“We are still on the path to correctly and fully calculating the electricity price sold in a market economy. Completing the electricity price policy, contributing to promoting economic growth, ensuring enough electricity for production and life is a mandatory requirement for sustainable development,” Dr. Nguyen Si Dung emphasized.
Responding to the question of whether EVN is the only channel for distributing and selling electricity directly to consumers, Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu, Deputy Director of the Electricity Department, said: EVN is not the only electricity retailer nationwide. Besides EVN, there are 742 enterprises that buy wholesale and retail electricity with a market share of about 8.59%. Thus, the market share according to the commercial electricity output that EVN sells to customers accounts for 91.4%.
“In the near future, with the expansion of the roadmap to the competitive retail electricity market level, there will be many wholesale and retail electricity buyers competing with each other in the competitive retail electricity market. Therefore, customers will have more options in choosing a retail electricity supplier,” said Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu.
Explaining the current situation of electricity bills as reflected by some consumers with unusually high increases in recent times, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Nam, Deputy General Director of EVN Group, said that immediately after receiving the reflection, EVN directed power companies to review all cases.
Through review, the output in August 2025 is different from every year in that the first days of August this year were unusually hot, so the system's output increased to a record, reaching 1 billion 084 million kWh, the highest peak ever, never so high. Through review and statistics, there are currently about 3.2 million/31.8 million households, accounting for more than 10%, with electricity output increasing by more than 30% compared to July.
“EVN has assigned the General Corporations to install the App for customers to monitor production fluctuations, and has a hotline to respond very promptly, and through the review process, there are currently no errors as reported. However, the feedback also includes fake information, some information is incorrect, or is aimed at attracting views for online sales, and there is also information that cannot be identified to clarify the address,” Mr. Nguyen Xuan Nam informed.
According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Nam, EVN is still reviewing and requiring the installation of the app, and announcing a hotline so that if there is any feedback, it will be responded to immediately. We are implementing electronic meters, so there will be no interference to distort the consumption index. Electricity measurements are all done remotely, then transmitted online, there is no need to go to the mechanical meter to measure the consumption index as before.
EVN needs to better meet the needs of electricity users.
From the perspective of both an electricity consumer and an economic expert, National Assembly delegate Phan Duc Hieu, member of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, said that EVN is facing a very difficult time. It has to balance many goals, including maintaining production, maintaining power sources, ensuring business efficiency, implementing socio-economic development goals, and the impact of power sources on the socio-economic activities of each individual.
However, delegate Phan Duc Hieu said that recently there have been some problems related to electricity services, even problems with communication and information... EVN should consider this as an opportunity to improve and better meet the needs of electricity users. Because in the near future, EVN will have to compete with other electricity sellers, if the service is good, people will choose it.
Sharing about the fact that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently developing and collecting opinions to amend Decree 72 regulating the mechanism for adjusting average retail electricity prices, Deputy Director of the Electricity Department Trinh Quoc Vu shared about the reasonable and valid costs of EVN that have not been fully accounted for and calculated into the retail electricity price. According to the regulations on electricity prices, reasonable and valid costs in the composition of EVN's input electricity price will be included in the average retail electricity price for adjustment.
Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu emphasized that Resolution 70 of the Politburo, which was recently issued, clearly stipulates the promotion of autonomy, self-determination, and self-responsibility of enterprises, and the review and supplementation of appropriate specific mechanisms and policies to create favorable conditions and ensure capital for corporations and state-owned enterprises to develop and exploit large-scale, important, and urgent energy projects.
In the coming time, EVN faces a very big task, being assigned by the Government to invest in power sources such as Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power source, or very large-scale hydropower sources, Bac Ai pumped storage hydropower to balance between power source capacity, load and wind power sources, Quang Trach thermal power.
Therefore, EVN really needs a healthy financial situation to be able to access and borrow capital, not only from domestic but also international credit institutions.
“Now is the time to adjust and supplement Decree 72 to allow EVN to calculate electricity costs in a timely, correct and sufficient manner in appropriate electricity prices,” Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu emphasized.
Explanation for the 45,000 billion VND not yet included in the cost
Sharing the reason why 45,000 billion VND has not been included in the cost for the public to understand clearly, EVN Deputy General Director Nguyen Xuan Nam said: In 2022-2023, due to the world political crisis, the price of input materials, especially coal, increased dramatically, nearly 4 times; gas increased nearly twice... pushing up input prices.
While input prices increase, electricity prices are not adjusted, so they cannot compensate for input costs. The Electricity Law stipulates that electricity price plans must compensate for input costs reasonably and validly, and be assessed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
At that time, we had to ensure macroeconomic stability after the Covid-19 pandemic, so EVN had not been adjusted, leading to low selling prices while the cost price was high, so this cost remained, although EVN had saved a lot. In 2024, due to profits, it was reduced somewhat, so the remaining 44,000 billion VND had not been compensated.
Former Director of the Price Management Department (Ministry of Finance) Nguyen Tien Thoa said that this loss was not calculated and announced by EVN itself, but was audited and announced by EVN based on audited data.
Providing more information on this issue, Deputy Director of the Electricity Department Trinh Quoc Vu said that in 2022-2023, EVN suffered losses. In 2023, the Ministry also established a team to inspect the cost of electricity production and business; in 2024, there will also be a similar team to inspect the cost of electricity production and business of EVN.
“In October 2024, the State Audit will conduct a thematic audit on electricity prices for 2022-2023. That means EVN is a state-owned corporation that produces and trades electricity but is subject to state regulation and supervision by state management agencies, not a monopoly of EVN,” Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu emphasized.
Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/hoa-don-dien-tang-dot-bien-evn-ly-giai-nguyen-nhan-715641.html
![[Photo] Soldiers guard the fire and protect the forest](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/9/27/7cab6a2afcf543558a98f4d87e9aaf95)
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the 1st Hai Phong City Party Congress](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/9/27/676f179ddf8c4b4c84b4cfc8f28a9550)
Comment (0)