EVN does not want to be the sole buyer in the electricity market.

Vietnam Electricity Group has just sent a document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposing that customers connecting to a voltage level of 110kV or higher ( usually factories and industrial parks - PV ) must directly purchase electricity on the electricity market.

Customers connected to the grid with a voltage of 110kV or higher must directly purchase electricity on the electricity market.

According to EVN, recently the group has proactively built the necessary conditions to allow end-consumers to participate in the competitive retail electricity market (VREM) and sent it to the Electricity Regulatory Authority, Ministry of Industry and Trade.

However, up to now, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has not had a specific plan to deploy VREM in accordance with the plan stipulated in Decision No. 2093/QD-BCT dated August 7, 2020 of the Minister of Industry and Trade (QD2093) on approving the VREM model design project.

In this project, EVN proposed a plan to allow end-consumers to participate in VREM instead of having to buy electricity according to the retail price list regulated by the Government from July 2021.

Delaying the implementation of VREM risks slowing down the roadmap for implementing a competitive retail electricity market as stipulated in Decision No. 63/2013/QD-TTg dated December 30, 2013 of the Prime Minister .

Accordingly, the competitive retail electricity market (level 3) must be piloted from 2021-2023 and a complete competitive retail electricity market must be implemented after 2023. It is also unclear when the Ministry of Industry and Trade will issue the Direct Power Purchase Agreement (DPPA) program.

Therefore, EVN recommends that the Ministry of Industry and Trade/Electricity Regulatory Authority consider EVN's proposals and reports to soon deploy a competitive retail electricity market according to the roadmap specified in Decision No. 63.

In the immediate future, EVN proposes that the Ministry of Industry and Trade/Electricity Regulatory Authority consider and require customers connected to the grid with a voltage of 110kV or higher to directly purchase electricity on the electricity market. This is to gradually implement a competitive retail electricity market according to the roadmap approved by the Prime Minister.

Because the calculation and announcement of distribution costs to voltage levels of 110kV and above is simpler, the number of customers is less than that of customers connecting to other voltage levels, and these customers are all equipped with electronic meters.

The cost of purchasing electricity for customers connected to the grid with a voltage of 110kV or higher must be added up, including all cost components. Specifically: energy costs determined through the spot market to the customer's receiving node; Electricity transmission costs (currently approved annually by the Ministry of Industry and Trade); Electricity distribution costs; Costs of dispatching and operating the power system and operating electricity market transactions; Ancillary service costs; PPA allocation costs, related to the cost of purchasing electricity from PPAs with IPP, BOT, renewable energy and imported power plants.

An energy expert said: Currently, EVN is the only buyer in the electricity market. With this proposal, EVN wants large customers to also be able to buy electricity in the electricity market. The number of customers connected to the grid with a voltage of 110kV or higher is not large but accounts for a large output, about 40-45% of the national electricity demand.

"If this mechanism is approved, these large customers will not need to buy electricity back from EVN as they do now. They can buy electricity at different prices during the day, for example, at low prices in the evening they can buy a lot, and at high prices in the afternoon they can buy less," this expert explained.

According to EVN, the average market price of electricity (FMP) in the first 3 months of the year reached 1,674.4 VND/kWh, the average purchase price of electricity from power plants in the electricity market was 1,755.9 VND/kWh.

Electricity prices increase from today, May 4. Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) decided to adjust the average retail electricity price to 1,920.3732 VND/kWh (old price was 1,864.44 VND/kWh).

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