Delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan (HCMC) analyzed that the State's regulation of electricity prices in Vietnam is an administrative order, and "the State does not spend a single penny".
The delegate cited that in other countries, electricity supply is based on market mechanisms. In 2022, when oil, coal, and gas prices increase, the cost of electricity production and supply will increase, so that consumers and businesses can still use electricity without having to pay more. In Japan, for every 1kW of electricity consumed by a household, the government pays 7 yen, the rest must be paid by the household, thereby reducing the household electricity bill by 20%.
In France, electricity companies raise electricity prices when raw material prices increase, but the actual price will decrease by 4% in 2022 and 15% in 2023, because the French government subsidizes electricity companies with 49 billion USD from the budget.
Deputy Nguyen Thien Nhan assessed that the 2012 Law on Prices and the draft Law on Prices (amended) currently under discussion do not have the principle of State price regulation, which is "the State must have public financial resources or reserve goods to regulate prices".
In the case of regulating electricity prices, there is only one solution: by administrative order, the State regulates electricity prices through the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Government.
In fact, EVN is operating at a loss despite increasing electricity prices by 3%, with a total loss of more than 100,000 billion VND in 3 years, equivalent to 49% of the group's charter capital. Not to mention, EVN currently owes nearly 20,000 billion VND for electricity purchases, and has to pay but has not yet received the money.
From here, the Ho Chi Minh City Delegate earnestly proposed to add the principle of price regulation management to the draft Law on Prices 2023: "The State must have public financial resources and reserve goods suitable for price regulation".
Deputy Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap) said that the current regulations set the electricity price by the State but it is still "subsidized". He raised the issue of why electricity is not included in the price stabilization list because currently 100% of people use electricity. According to the Deputy, the inclusion of electricity in the price stabilization list is very welcomed by the people.
Delegate Hoa shared that 100% of people consume electricity and pay more for electricity than for gasoline and oil. Some people use gasoline and oil, some do not. Gasoline and oil are in the price stabilization fund, while electricity, which is used by 100% of people, is not included in the price stabilization fund but is instead set by the State.
Also talking about putting electricity into the price stabilization fund, Deputy Nguyen Quoc Luan (Yen Bai) said that electricity is an important commodity and service directly related to people's lives, production and business activities of organizations and enterprises, causing great impacts on socio-economics.
Expressing the same opinion as Deputy Nguyen Thien Nhan, Mr. Luan said that in recent times, this type of commodity has changed frequently according to trends, only increasing and not decreasing. However, the increase in electricity prices is still not enough to cover costs, leading to large losses in the electricity industry, causing cash flow imbalance and leading to many serious consequences.
Therefore, the delegate proposed that this type of goods should be stabilized by competent state agencies and included in the list of stabilized goods and services.
Explaining the opinions of three National Assembly deputies, Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that the reason for not including electricity prices in the stabilization list is because the State has set the prices.
The Minister explained: "Currently, resources must be ensured, the budget is still limited, or the problem of electricity production enterprises, currently EVN Group is mainly a state-owned corporation accounting for over 50%. If support is provided by the budget, the Budget Law must be amended to be appropriate. The Government would like to not accept this opinion."
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