Complaints about high electricity bills are being heard everywhere these days. Any move taken by EVN will affect the pockets of families, especially the poor.

 

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Some people have attributed to complaints to the 8.36 percent price hike, while some experts think the problem doesn’t lie in the price increase, but in the unreasonable 6-level retail price frame.

But all of them have blamed EVN, saying that EVN should be dissolved to establish a competitive market and eliminate its monopoly.

In reply, EVN’s deputy CEO Dinh Quang Tri warned that once a competitive market takes shape, the electricity price will be even higher and will keep escalating.

“If dissolving EVN and state-owned power companies, the electricity price will increase by 50 percent or 100 percent immediately,” he warned.

Some people have attributed to complaints to the 8.36 percent price hike, while some experts think the problem doesn’t lie in the price increase, but in the unreasonable 6-level retail price frame.

Regarding the 6-level electricity price frame, Tri said the current price policy is set to encourage users to save electricity, because the more they use, the higher prices they have to bear.

Once the competitive market is put into operation, the government will not intervene in the pricing and the prices will be determined by supply and demand.

Vietnam is taking steps toward competitive market. At first, it is building a competitive electricity generation market, then a competitive wholesale market, and finally a competitive retail market.

EVN has warned that Vietnam is facing a electricity shortage, saying that the current electricity price is not high enough to attract investments in the power sector.

On the first hot days of summer, the electricity demand was high which forced all power plants to run at full capacity, while some plants had to run with oil. If the demand continues to increase, electricity outages will occur.

Meanwhile, energy experts and the public believe that the best solution for Vietnam is eliminating the monopoly and applying a transparent pricing mechanism.

“The monopoly in the power sector in Vietnam has been deeply rooted and until now there has been no foundation for a competitive electricity market,” said Ngo Duc Ke, an energy expert.

In the immediate time, it is possible to eliminate the monopoly in power transmission by splitting the transmission division from EVN and putting the division under state control, according to Lam. However, EVN, citing many reasons, is trying to retain the division.

 

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Mai Lan