HANOI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's state utility EVN has proposed to the government to increase retail electricity prices, three months after the first increase in May, as it anticipated a loss of more than 51 trillion Vietnamese dong (2.1 billion U.S. dollars) this year, local media reported on Wednesday.
The average electricity retail price was increased by 3 percent to 1,920 Vietnamese dong (0.08 dollars) per kWh from May 4, which helped EVN boost revenue by 8 trillion dong, but this is still not enough to make up for the increase of 9.27 percent in the electricity production cost in 2022, local newspaper Vietnam News reported.
A recent report of EVN showed the firm lost 36.3 trillion dong from electricity production in the first five months of this year. If the prices of inputs remained unchanged and electricity retail prices were not adjusted, EVN anticipated a loss of more than 51 trillion this year, meaning a loss of nearly 78 trillion for the 2022-23 period.
EVN forecast that it would face cash flow shortages from July to December 2023 and it has already taken out debts from power generation units to ensure cash flow for purchasing coal, oil, and gas for electricity production.
According to experts, it is necessary to be cautious in raising electricity prices and more transparency is needed regards to EVN's electricity production costs.
In Vietnam, electricity price adjustments of 3 to below 5 percent would go to EVN while an increase from 5 to below 10 percent would be decided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and by 10 percent or higher by the prime minister, the newspaper said. ■
