Gov’t to set power price frame only
By Lan Nhi - The Saigon Times Daily
HANOI – The Prime Minister will not decide the specific retail power prices, but will only set the price frame, according to a regulation in the draft Price Law submitted to the Government by the Ministry of Finance.
The prevalent Electric Power Law provides for the State to supervise power prices, meaning to approve the power price frame, but not directly regulate prices. At present, the State only decides the average retail power price, instead of specific retail prices.
However, when making the draft Price Law, the finance ministry has included specific retail power prices in the State-regulated price list. This has raised objections against the contradiction between this draft law and the Electric Power Law currently under revision
To settle the disagreement between the two laws on the same item, after a meeting with the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Hanoi last Friday, the finance ministry sent to the Government the draft Price Law with proper adjustments, in a bid to reach agreement on electricity prices with the Electric Power Law.
Particularly, the Government will regulate the price frame for power generation and power wholesale, and set the average retail power price. In addition, the State will decide the specific prices of power transmission, distribution and supporting services, as well as regulate the retail power tariff.
The trade ministry will be in charge of approving the specific power generation prices and power wholesale prices after submitting the prices to the Government.
These adjustments are made to synchronize with the development of the competitive power market. The price frame is set so that power sellers can negotiate prices within the frame, preventing the act of jointly raising prices, affecting the society.
Moreover, the Government has released Decision 24/2011 on adjusting power prices in accordance with the market mechanism.