Vietnam raises electricity retail prices 4.5% from Nov 9

Electricity retail prices in Vietnam went up 4.5%, starting Thursday, state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) announced on the same day.

The price adjustment was given in-principle nods from the government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, EVN said. This is the second increase this year after the first one in May.

For usage of between 0 and 50 kWh, the price is now VND1,806 ($0.07) per kWh. For 51-100 kWh, the figure is VND1,866 per kWh. For between 101 kWh and 200 kWh, it is VND2,167 per kWh.

The per kWh price is set at VND2,729 ($0.11) for usage of 201-300 kWh, VND3,050 for 301-400 kWh, and VND3,151 for 401 kWh or above.

EVN noted that the per kWh electricity production cost went up 1.84% in 2021 from 2020 and 9.27% in 2022 from 2021. The rate is expected to reach VND2,098 ($0.09) per kWh in 2023, or about VND178 higher than the average rate. EVN will still occur losses from electricity production, the utility said.

In the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam’s power system generated 234.13 billion kWh of electricity, up 3.9% year-on-year, EVN said. The figure included 24.28 billion kWh in October, up 11.3%.

In January-October, the output featured 107.74 billion kWh of coal-fired power, or 46% of the total; 66.74 billion kWh of hydropower, or 28.5%; 31.58 billion kWh of renewable energy, or 13.5% (including 22.35 billion kWh of solar energy and 8.52 billion kWh of wind energy); 22.9 billion kWh of gas-fired power, or 9.8%; 1.23 billion kWh of oil-fired power, or 0.5%; and 3.56 billion kWh of imported power, or 1.5%.