The index was up 0.3 point compared to 2018 and ranked 27th out of 190 countries and economies, the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said on May 6.

The access-to-electricity index is assessed on the criteria, including procedure, time and cost to connect to the grid, reliability of electricity supply and transparency of electricity price.

This is the fifth consecutive year the ranking of Vietnam has improved. The country gradually improved its ranking on the index in 2013-19 thank to the continuous renewal process and comprehensive solutions in electricity access. It jumped 129 positions from 156 to 27 in the period.

In Vietnam, among 10 criteria assessing business environment, the access-to-electricity index has been in the group of three best indicators (following credit access and construction licences). At the same time, the index has the best evaluation score among 10 indexes in the country.

The continuous improvement of the index has affirmed efforts of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV) and Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) as well as the Government and the MoIT to bring better quality and services in power supply.

Factors for evaluation of the access-to-electricity index in Vietnam have also improved quickly. The number of power administrative procedures was reduced from six to four while the working days to handle the procedures were also shortened from 115 to 31 days. Power supply reliability and transparency of electricity prices have already been on par with that of developed countries.

The number of procedures in the electricity industry in Vietnam was similar to the average level of Asia-Pacific and OCED countries. The time for implementing the procedures was much better than the above mentioned countries.

However, the cost to connect to the grid in Vietnam is still high due to the low income per capita. The reliability of electricity supply and transparency of electricity price were similar to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries and higher than the Asia-Pacific region.

The MoIT is building procedures to submit to the Prime Minister for the promulgation of electricity supply mechanism to further improve the index. The mechanism is expected to reduce procedures and difficulties in accessing power in Vietnam./.VNA