New power fees likely next month
New power fees likely next month
The new retail electric tariff will be submitted to the Government for consideration in October, said Dinh The Phuc, deputy head of the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Viet Nam (ERAV).
Phuc said at a press conference, held in Ha Noi yesterday, that the Ministry of Industry and Trade required the ERAV calculating to reduce current power tariff levels from six to three or fewer. The ministry has also asked the Electricity of Viet Nam to recalculate the levels.
He added that EVN was instructed to organise conferences in the north, central and south regions to gather ideas from scientists, businesses and the public regarding the power tariff levels.
He noted that the devaluation of the Chinese yuan and the State Bank of Viet Nam's decision to increase the exchange rate by 1 per cent have had effects on businesses borrowing foreign currencies for their investments, as well as on those purchasing materials.
Power generation companies, such as the Viet Nam National Coal-Mineral Industries Holding (TKV) and EVN, calculated the effects from exchange rate differences and reported to the ministry.
"ERAV reviews the effects on retail prices and discusses them with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to decide whether to add TKV's losses to the electricity tariff," he added.
Further, Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai said any adjustment relating to power tariffs would be carefully reviewed, in co-operation with relevant agencies such as the MOF and the Ministry of Planning and Investment and submitted to the Prime Minister for consideration.
At a meeting of the ministry on Thursday, its three large conglomerates reported losses of trillions of dong as a result of foreign exchange differences.
Representatives from EVN, TKV and the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) said foreign exchange differences have had great impacts on their production and trade activities.
Deputy Director General of TKV Vu Anh Tuan said foreign exchange differences affected the company's production and business, particularly in electricity production. The group has incurred losses of around VND1.2 trillion (US$53.3 million) as a result of exchange differences.
Deputy Director General of PVN Ninh Van Quynh said foreign exchange differences, coupled with oil price reductions, led to a sharp decrease in the group's revenues.
The group had borrowed a large amount of foreign currency to carry out large projects, so the adjustment of the exchange rate had a great impact on its production and business, he said.
PVN's total revenue in the past eight months of the year stood at VND383 trillion ($17.01 billion), equivalent to 53 per cent of its set target, he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director General of EVN Ngo Son Hai said the group suffered losses some ten times higher than those of TKV, but failed to report the exact amount of losses.
He said EVN would calculate the exact amount of losses to report to the ministry.
He proposed the Government have measures to support businesses, such as tax reductions and relaxations, as well as policies to help businesses tackle these difficulties.
