The Prime Minister has recently approved a master plan for the development of an electricity market in Vietnam for the next 20 years.
Under the plan, the market will develop in three phases, with the aim of making the sector provide a competitive power generation market in the period of 2005-2014.
Between 2015 and 2022, the market will supply the wholesale business model, while the last phase will feature a competitive retail market after 2022, in which, the period of 2022-2024 will be a pilot period for the competitive retail market and a fully-constituted competitive retail market that will be applied across the country after 2024.
According to the plan, any individual and organization with certain qualifications will be allowed to set up a retail electrical company. They will be able to purchase electricity from suppliers and sell it directly to customers.
The electricity market development roadmap is designed to eliminate subsidies, alleviate monopolies in the market, and attract investment from different economic sectors.
Along with the giant supplier Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the nation also has several small electricity suppliers, however, the distribution and retail market is strangled by the massive EVN.
Meanwhile, the corporation’s power output has increased at a average of 15.1 per cent annually during the 1995-2005 period, with the company last year accounting for an output of nearly 45 billion kWh, up from the 11.2 billion kWh produced in 1995.
The average electricity consumption, at 156 kWh per person annually, rose to 500 kWh last year.
In the last 10 years, EVN has invested over VND136 trillion (US$8.5 billion) to build hydro-and thermo-power plants and networks, with 2001-05 accounting for a total investment capital of VND99 trillion.
At present, the national electricity network of the corporation covers 64 provinces and cities nationwide, lighting up 83.3 per cent of rural households, recording an increase of 23 per cent over the set target.
Liberated Saigon, VNS
Vietnamese
