Clearly stipulate principles and roadmap for electricity price reform in the Electricity Law

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man speaks at the meeting. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Presenting the draft Electricity Law (amended), Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Truong Thanh Hoai said that the draft Law consists of 9 chapters with 121 articles, of which 62 articles are inherited and mainly amended, 4 articles are removed, and 4 articles are merged into other articles. The draft Law adds 59 articles including contents on electricity development planning, bidding policies for investors in power source projects, policies on handling emergency power sources, policies on renewable energy (solar power, wind power), new energy with appropriate scientific and technological advances, direct electricity trading mechanism, full implementation of all levels of the competitive electricity market, moving towards eliminating cross-subsidy of electricity prices between economic sectors, types of electricity prices, electricity trading prices according to time of day, multi-component electricity prices...

With the urgent need to complete and promulgate the Electricity Law (amended) as soon as possible for practical implementation, ensuring energy security in the coming period, the Government therefore submits to the National Assembly for consideration and approval of this Law project according to the one-session process (commenting and approving at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly).

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Truong Thanh Hoai reports at the meeting. Photo: quochoi.vn

In the report on the review of the Draft Law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy said that regarding electricity prices and prices of electricity services, the Standing Committee of the Committee proposed to study and supplement specific regulations on ensuring a stable electricity price structure; stipulate clear principles and roadmaps for electricity price reform such as: eliminating cross-subsidies between customer groups, implementing two-component electricity prices, electricity prices to encourage energy-saving use, imported and exported electricity prices... to create a good signal and attract investment in the electricity industry. At the same time, it is necessary to clearly define the responsibilities of each state management agency in the field of electricity prices.

Chairman Le Quang Huy also said that this is a difficult and complicated draft law, involving many sectors and levels. Therefore, it is recommended that this draft law be considered and approved in a two-session process so that the National Assembly has more time to study and collect opinions from those affected by the law, ensuring the feasibility of the draft law.

In case the Draft Law is well prepared by the Government and the discussion process at the National Assembly reaches high consensus, the National Assembly Standing Committee shall consider and coordinate with the Government to submit it to the National Assembly for approval at the eighth session according to the procedure at one session.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy presents the inspection report. Photo: quochoi.vn

Discussing at the meeting, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said that, regarding the State's policy on electricity development, the regulation on the State's "monopoly" in electricity transmission operations is necessary to ensure national energy security, but to study the issue of the State's "monopoly" at a certain level, the remaining operation of electricity transmission under high voltage, local areas can assign non-state economic sectors to participate in investment to effectively mobilize social resources to participate in electricity transmission operations.

Opinions in the National Assembly Standing Committee also said that there should be "open" regulations to promote socialization in investment in power transmission operations, implement a roadmap for electricity prices according to market mechanisms, thereby ensuring synchronization in mobilizing socialization between investment in power source projects and power transmission operations projects.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh speaks at the meeting. Photo: quochoi.vn

Speaking at the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man suggested that the process of amending the Law should pay attention to the regulations on the mechanism for managing and regulating electricity prices, which affect practical life and are of great interest to public opinion. Therefore, the development of electricity pricing principles must be implemented consistently, ensuring compensation for all actual production and business costs, reasonable, valid and profitable for electricity units, in accordance with the market level.

The National Assembly Chairman also believes that amending the Law will remove obstacles to socio-economic development and remove difficulties in people's lives and activities.

"People are very interested in the Electricity Law Project (amended) because electricity is related to people's daily lives" - National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasized.

Regarding the Government's proposal to submit the Law Project to the National Assembly for consideration and approval according to the 1-session process at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, which will take place in October 2024, whether it meets the standards or not, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man requested that the drafting and reviewing agencies of the Law Project need to clarify further. In addition, it is necessary to focus on promoting the power grid, ensuring power grid security; removing difficulties and obstacles in socio-economic development; developing energy; offshore wind power...

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/quy-dinh-ro-nguyen-tac-lo-trinh-ve-cai-cach-gia-dien-trong-luat-dien-luc.html