HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed piloting a two-part electricity tariff for large customers starting early next year, with a nationwide rollout planned for August 2027.

The proposal, outlined in a draft decision currently open to public comment, splits the electricity bill into two parts: a fixed fee based on registered capacity and a variable charge based on actual energy consumption.

At present, Việt Nam applies a single-part pricing system where users pay a fixed fee regardless of consumption, which the ministry says does not fully reflect the electricity sector’s costs, including infrastructure maintenance.

The pilot will be implemented in four phases. The first phase, from now until mid-2026, will test the two-part pricing with industrial customers engaged in direct power purchase agreements (DPPA) with renewable energy producers and large electricity users in production and business.

In the second phase, from January to June 2026, authorities will issue parallel invoices without requiring payment to all pilot participants and provide guidance on the new pricing system.

From July 2026 to July 2027, the system will be tested in practice to monitor demand changes, customer behaviour, and electricity sales revenue, and to study necessary adjustments to the tariff structure.

The ministry will study expanding the two-part tariff to more customer groups from August 2027.

Vietnam Electricity (EVN) will be responsible for proposing the pricing and submitting it to the ministry for implementation following the roadmap.

At a conference on Monday, EVN General Director Nguyễn Anh Tuấn said the pilot should first be implemented for large customers who use at least 200,000 kWh per month and are connected at 22kV or higher. There will be around 7,000 such enterprises, who are also subject to DPPA. Residential customers will not be included at this stage due to the requirement to invest in new metering systems.

In the initial phase, the mechanism will apply to large users without exception. Later, peak and off-peak pricing will ensure greater fairness, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên said.

Most countries have already applied a two-part electricity tariff to encourage efficient energy use while easing the pressure to invest in new generation capacity and grid expansion.

Nguyễn Huy Hoạch from the Institute of Energy said the mechanism will ensure fairness for industrial and commercial users.

Energy expert Ngô Đức Lâm said two-part pricing is necessary to implement DPPA and move towards a competitive electricity market. — VNS