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EVN accused of pressing prices down, not providing enough electricity
The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) has become the point of an assault, when both electricity sellers and buyers complain that it is very difficult to do business with the power group.
The owners of enterprises which sell electricity to the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) complain that EVN always tries to force the purchase prices down, thus causing losses to them. Meanwhile, EVN’s clients, who purchase electricity from EVN, complain that they do not get enough electricity, even though they always pay electricity bills on schedule.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, EVN is possessing, managing and running 53.1 percent of the total electricity capacity. If counting on the power sources where EVN is holding controlling stakes, the figure would be 71 percent. Meanwhile, foreign and private investors only have 10.4 percent of total capacity. The remaining capacity is being put under the control of some “big guys” namely PetroVietnam, Vinacomin, or the Vietnam Industrial Construction Group.
Experts believe that it is the monopoly being held by EVN in purchasing and distributing electricity which makes it difficult to reach agreements on electricity purchase and sale prices.
Vu Manh Hung, Deputy General Director of Vinacomin, complained that a lot of its power projects go slowly because Vinacomin cannot reach agreements with EVN about the electricity prices at which Vinacomin sells to EVN. Especially, the negotiations have not been completed for some power projects which are to be put into operation in some more days, including Son Dong or Cam Pha. To date, the electricity prices have been just set up temporarily, while the official electricity prices remain “pending”.
Nguyen Khac Son, General Director of the Pha Lai Thermopower Company, said that his company is one of the lucky clients who can sign the contracts on selling electricity to EVN for four years at nearly 700 dong per kwh. The prices can be adjusted every month, and when the coal and fuel prices increase, the electricity prices can be adjusted accordingly.
According to Son, the key problem behind the difficulties in negotiating for electricity prices is the pricing mechanism. EVN needs to set the purchase prices at the levels low enough to ensure reasonable profits for EVN while selling electricity. If EVN purchases at high prices, it would incur losses.
Not only the power generators who sell electricity to EVN, but the clients who buy electricity from EVN also complain that they always get troubles with EVN.
Dao Huu Huyen, Director of Duc Giang Detergent and Chemicals Company, said that the company has to pay 15-30 billion dong for electricity bills, but his company still cannot get enough power.
The Power Law clearly stipulates that power companies have to supply electricity to investment projects and the transmission lines must be ready at the fence of the investment works. However, in fact, investors always have to wait for this for a long time.
The transmission line for a factory of Duc Giang, for example, has been late for three months. “We plan to begin running the unit No 2 in July, but to date, there has been no provision line. We have to halt other works just to wait for the line,” Huyen complained.
Also according to Huyen, some units of his factories need electricity to give the engines a trial run, but he has not got any reply from the electricity providers. Duc Giang has proposed to advance 4-5 billion dong in order to help EVN have more capital to build the transmission line. However, EVN has not given reply on this.
Under the Decision No.24, the electricity price can be adjusted once every three months, but the electricity sale contract cannot be renegotiated every three months.
Huyen went on to say that in 2010, when the electricity was seriously lacking, his enterprise has to move heaven and earth to purchase every MW of electricity. Meanwhile, in 2011, when the electricity supply is profuse, his enterprise has been encouraged to operate in peak hours as well, even though the prices in peak hours are much higher than the prices in non-peak hours.
Meanwhile, Duong Quang Thanh, Deputy General Director EVN, blames the current pricing mechanism on the difficulties in negotiating for prices. EVN cannot sell electricity at high prices because the electricity price is set by the government. Therefore, it cannot offer high purchase prices to power generators.
vietnamnet
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