In the first six months of this year Vietnam’s state power provider, EVN, recorded a loss of VND 13,000 or US$513 million. This is despite an increase in retail electricity prices earlier this year.
Of note, retail electricity prices in Vietnam are regulated and, though permitted, price rises are not all that common. This has led to EVN selling electricity below cost price. As of January, it was losing about VND 142.5 per kilowatt-hour sold. This has been ongoing for some time and has led to EVN accumulating the huge aforementioned losses. The issue here seems to be a reluctance to raise electricity prices rather than an inability to do so.
See also: Electricity in Vietnam: Foreign Investor Cheat Sheet 2024