VietNamNet Bridge - Whether Vietnam has a competitive power market remains a controversial question. The Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) believes that the current market must not be competitive as Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) still holds the monopoly.

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The current power market should not be considered ‘competitive’.

Cao Dat Khoa, an expert, when presenting the overview report about the Vietnamese power market in Vietnam at a recent workshop, commented that Vietnam has also been pursuing liberalization as it has created a competitive electricity generation market.

"There is no competitive market in which the state determines the selling prices,”

Nguyen Dinh Cung, Head of the Central Institute of Economic Management 
The state monopoly held by EVN has been removed following a liberalization process over the last few years. EVN, which once owned 100 percent of power generation sources, now only holds 20 percent of power generation capacity, while its subsidiaries – power generation companies – hold 40 percent. 

Also, according to Khoa, EVN is moving ahead with the plan to equitize its power generation companies, which, once obtaining necessary conditions, will be split from EVN to become independent units, in accordance with Vietnam’s power market development roadmap and the capability of calling for investments.

However, disagreeing with Khoa’s viewpoint, CIEM’s head Nguyen Dinh Cung said the current power market should not be considered ‘competitive’.

“In this case, the holding company comes forward and competes in the market to dodge the competition law,” he said. “There is not real competition as EVN dominates the market.”

“Besides, the electricity price in Vietnam is still determined by the State. There is no competitive market in which the state determines the selling prices,” he maintained.

Le Hong Hai, a power market expert, said the natural monopoly has been existing in the market, but EVN has taken steps to build a competitive market, having built up a power generation market.

The full competitive power market is obtained when there are both power generation and power transmission markets.

“The problem is EVN still has not released the figures to prove the transparency of the markets,” he commented.

To date, EVN has to act as both the producer and distributor under commercial contracts and as the state’s legal entity which fulfills social responsibilities. In the future, the fulfillment of the two tasks must be clarified.

Also according to Hai, in the near future, EVN will have technical infrastructure to ensure that the wholesale electricity market can be run, slated for 2019.

Before that time, a competitive wholesale electricity market would be put into a trial run in 2016-2018.

Cung, meanwhile, said: “It is true that big changes have been made after the last many years. But these are still far below the expectations.”


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