Vietnam will witness the second power price hike of this year as of December 22, 2012, with prices set to go up by 5 percent, according to a Ministry of Industry and Trade circular released on Thursday.
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Vietnam will witness the second power price hike of this year as of December 22, 2012, with prices set to go up by 5 percent, according to a Ministry of Industry and Trade circular released on Thursday.
The average power price will thus rise to VND1,437 a kWh from VND1,369, excluding value-added tax.
However, the price will remain unchanged at VND993 per kWh for the first 0-50kWh for poor households.
This is the second power price hike, after the 5 percent increase from July 1.
Earlier this month, the Electricity Group of Vietnam (EVN) said at a media meeting that it is likely to post profits this year, but power prices will still be hiked in the future.
“Although the 2013 roadmap for electricity price management has yet to be released, it should be acknowledged that prices will only be on an upward trend next year,” the company said, while refusing to elaborate the specific amount of profits.
But EVN said it will earmark some VND4 trillion to make up for the losses of the previous years.
The state-run company said it incurred a VND5.29 trillion loss in 2011 alone, as the VND1,226 a kWh power retailing price was lower than the cost price of VND1,282 a kWh.
(Source:TTNews)
