EVN has no plans to increase electricity prices in 2016.

The leaders of the Electricity Corporation stated that the reason for not yet considering a price increase is because input costs are currently low, but they also said that during peak purchasing periods, the company "cannot say anything for sure."

This information was released by leaders of the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) and regulatory agencies at a press conference announcing the Group's electricity production costs for 2014, organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the afternoon of February 2nd.

Specifically, a representative from the Electricity Regulatory Authority stated that EVN's electricity production and business cost in 2014 was 1,539.35 VND per kWh, while the selling price the company received was only an average of 1,532.55 VND, nearly 7 VND per kWh lower.

Although the Group reported a profit of 823.8 billion VND in this fiscal year, Deputy General Director Dinh Quang Tri affirmed that the majority of this profit was offset by activities outside the core business. “The profit earned from activities outside electricity production and trading is approximately 1,700 billion VND, coming from the sale of equipment at several joint-stock companies, consulting companies, or interest earned from bank deposits at finance companies. If we were to be precise, electricity production and trading activities are loss-making because the selling price does not cover the costs,” Mr. Tri said.

EVN leaders added that, to date, the Group has no plans to propose an increase in electricity prices because the load is currently low, and the power generation structure is also favorable with the mobilization of cheap electricity sources (hydropower). Similarly, in February, it is highly likely that oil-fired power plants (which have high electricity prices) will not need to be used. "However, it is unclear what will happen in the summer, so we cannot say for sure," Mr. Tri noted.

EVN does not want to increase electricity prices in 2016.

While acknowledging that the profit of 800 billion VND is "very low" compared to the chartered capital of 160,000 billion VND, this person still affirmed that they "do not want to increase electricity prices".

"EVN itself gets tired every time there's a price increase. As the seller, we want stable electricity prices, both input and output, which is the best option," the Deputy General Director expressed.

Deputy Director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority, Dinh The Phuc, also confirmed that EVN has not yet reported to the regulatory body on the review of input costs to serve as a basis for price adjustments. According to Mr. Phuc, the reason why businesses sell electricity at a price lower than the cost is because the Prime Minister is the one who decides the retail price. Therefore, even if EVN wanted to increase the price, it couldn't.

Regarding the draft decision on the retail electricity pricing structure that the agency is currently seeking feedback on, the Deputy Director said that the proposal to adjust electricity prices every three months is to better align with market signals. "This is also consistent with the Prime Minister's directive to bring electricity prices closer to market prices. However, everything is still in draft form," Mr. Phuc added.

According to VNE