State electricity provider, Electricity Vietnam, incurred a loss of more than VND 28.7 trillion (US$1.18 billion) in the first eight months of the year, a loss 9 percent bigger than that of the whole of 2022, Vietnam News is reporting. A representative of EVN told the publication that this was on the back of rising fuel costs with 40 to 60 percent of Vietnam’s coal imported and priced according to global markets.
For context: Electricity prices in Vietnam are regulated by the state with EVN only allowed to increase prices up to 5 percent at a time. A price rise of 5 to 10 percent needs to be approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and a price rise higher than 10 percent needs to be approved by the Prime Minister. A reluctance to raise electricity prices often leads to the state power provider selling electricity at below cost.