On the price of electricity for tenants
(Baonghean)- Implementing the Government's policy of supporting the poor and disadvantaged when adjusting electricity prices, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has stipulated that the price of household electricity for the first 50 kWh (for poor and low-income households) is 993 VND/kWh and for kWh from 0-100 (for normal households) is 1,242 VND/kWh, not increasing and kept equal to the price of 2011.
Students and workers renting houses will be able to directly purchase electricity at the ladder price if they meet the conditions. Signing a contract to purchase electricity for domestic purposes in the case of renting a house for residence according to the provisions in Point e, Clause 4, Section III, Part B, Appendix of Circular No. 42/2011/TT-BCT dated December 19, 2011 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is implemented as follows:
At each rental address, the electricity seller only signs one electricity purchase contract (PPA). The landlord is responsible for presenting the tenant's temporary residence registration. In the case of renting to families: The landlord directly signs the PPA or authorizes the renting household to sign the PPA (with a guarantee of payment for electricity), each tenant is calculated a quota.
In case of renting a house to students and workers (the tenant is not a household), the electricity seller is responsible for publicly announcing and providing a quota to the homeowner based on the temporary residence registration. Every 4 people are counted as a household using electricity to calculate the quota applied to the retail price of household electricity, specifically: 1 person is counted as 1/2 of the quota, 2 people are counted as 1/2 of the quota, 3 people are counted as 1/2 of the quota, 4 people are counted as 1 quota.
In the case of students and workers renting a house for temporary residence registration for 12 months or more, the landlord directly signs the contract or the representative of the worker or student renting the house signs the contract (with the landlord's guarantee of payment of electricity bill). In case the rental period is less than 12 months, the landlord must directly sign.
In case the tenant does not sign a direct contract with the electricity seller, the landlord is responsible for collecting electricity from the tenant according to the retail price of electricity in the monthly electricity bill, issued by the electricity retailer, plus 10% for losses, lighting costs and common water pumping.
When there is a change in the number of tenants, the landlord is responsible for notifying the electricity seller to adjust the electricity bill calculation rate. The electricity seller has the right to check and request the electricity buyer to present a monthly temporary residence registration certificate to determine the number of people and calculate the rate when calculating the electricity bill.
However, according to reports from electricity companies and media reports, there are many cases where landlords have taken advantage of electricity price adjustment regulations to collect electricity bills from tenants at higher prices than the regulations in order to make illegal profits, affecting the rights of students and workers renting houses, going against the Government's policy of supporting the poor and disadvantaged when adjusting electricity prices.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed relevant units to inspect the implementation of electricity prices for residential tenants in localities. According to the results of the actual inspection, the shortcomings in the application of electricity prices for residential tenants are: Tenants' awareness of legal regulations on electricity prices is limited and they do not dare to report to the authorities, allowing landlords to take advantage of this to collect electricity bills in violation of regulations; landlords have not seriously declared temporary residence for tenants, have not voluntarily registered with the electricity unit to be granted a ladder-based electricity usage quota for tenants; the management of local authorities in the implementation of electricity prices at rental business locations has not received due attention.
In order to ensure that tenants are entitled to the retail price of household electricity according to regulations, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has assigned the Department of Industry and Trade of Nghe An and the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to coordinate with Nghe An Electricity Company to seriously implement the direction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Official Dispatch No. 429/BCT-DTĐL dated January 18, 2012.
Accordingly, the Department of Industry and Trade is responsible for coordinating with Nghe An Electricity Company to continue to publicly announce and guide the procedures for registration to grant the ladder-based electricity usage quota for house tenants, and at the same time organize periodic propaganda and dissemination on local mass media (newspapers, radio, loudspeaker systems in wards and communes) about the State's electricity price policy for house tenants.
In case the landlord collects electricity bills at high prices in violation of regulations, he/she must be strictly handled according to the provisions of Decree No. 68/2010/ND-CP dated June 15, 2010 of the Government regulating penalties for violations of the law in the electricity sector.
Dinh Thi Phuong
