Vietnam Electricity wants retail price hike to cover $1.3B loss

The loss is equivalent to 80% of the estimated profits made by all other state-owned enterprises this year, according to a report by the Commission for Management of State Capital at Enterprises.

Nguyen Duc Ninh, director of the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC), said power producers demanded nearly 20% more for their supply than last year and 36% more than three years ago.

Most plants want to be paid more than the retail rate of VND1,865.44 per kilowatt-hour, with some even asking for VND3,000-4,000, he said.

Another difficulty was gas shortages and there were times when the NLDC had to secure power generated from diesel at higher prices.

EVN has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to raise retail tariffs, but no decision has been made yet.

"We had anticipated 2022 to be a difficult year, but it was much more difficult than we expected," Do Nguyet Anh, chairwoman of the EVN Northern Power Corporation, which distributes electricity to 27 northern localities, said.

Her company saw costs overshoot an earlier plan by VND3.7 trillion.