Subjects of application of time of day based electricity price in Vietnam

Subjects of application of time of day based electricity price in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Subjects of application of time of day based electricity price in Vietnam

Specifically, according to Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular 16/2014/TT-BCT (amended in Circular 06/2021/TT-BCT), time of day based electricity price (hereinafter referred to as the three-rate manner) shall be applied to the following subjects:

- Buyers who use electricity for production, business and services supplied via 25kVA+ transformer or pledge to use at least 2,000 kWh per month on average in three consecutive months;

- Electricity retailers at industrial parks or industrial clusters;

- Retailers for non-domestic purposes in commercial, service and domestic complexes;

Buyers are encouraged to use electricity under the three-rate meter (hereinafter referred to as three-rate meter buyers) for production, business and services with a transformer and an amount of electricity consumed below the limit as defined in Point a of Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular 16/2014/TT-BCT (amended in Circular 06/2021/TT-BCT).

The seller shall be responsible for creating favorable conditions and providing guidance to such buyers on the installation of a three-rate meter.

2. Electricity usage time of the day in Vietnam

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 16/2014/TT-BCT, time of day in this context is defined as follows:

(1) Normal time:

- From Mondays to Saturdays

+ From 04:00 to 09:30 (Five hours and 30 minutes);

+ From 11:30 to 17:00 (Five hours and 30 minutes);

+ From 20:00 to 22:00 (two hours)

- Sunday

From 04:00 to 22:00 (18 hours).

(2) Peak time: from Mondays to Saturdays

+ From 09:30 to 11:30 (two hours);

+ From 17:00 to 20:00 (three hours).

- Sunday: No peak time

(3) Low time

All days of week: from 22:00 to 04:00 the following morning (six hours).

3. Regulations on application of electricity price in Vietnam

According to Article 3 of Circular 16/2014/TT-BCT (amended in Circular 25/2018/TT-BCT), the electricity price is applied as follows:

- Electricity price shall be applied to right subjects with power using purposes (hereinafter referred to as the using purposes) as regulated in this Circular.

Buyers (those who purchase electricity) shall declare their using purpose for the application of electricity price under Circular 16/2014/TT-BCT.

In case there is some change to the using purposes that results in change to the electricity price, buyers must make a written notice to the seller (One who generates electricity for the purpose) 15 days in advance for adjustment to the contract in accordance with the using purpose. The seller must carry out the examination to apply the price appropriately.

In case the application of electricity price deviating the using purpose has caused some loss to both buyer and seller, recovery of arrears or refund of electric bills must be made.

In case the point of time when the application of wrong price starts is not determined, a period of 12 months (from the point of detection of wrong application and earlier) shall be applied for the calculation of recovery of arrears and refund of electric bills.

- In case the buyer uses electricity for multiple purposes:

= As for customers who register one electric meter for domestic purpose but use part of the amount of electricity from such meter for other purposes (production, business and services…), retail price for domestic purpose shall be applied for all the amount of electric energy measured by such meter;

= As for customers who register one electric meter for purposes other than domestic purpose (hereinafter referred to as non-domestic purposes), the two sides shall negotiate the proportion of electricity used for each using purpose in reliance on real-life usage.

- On the date when electricity price is changed according to the Decision promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the seller must finalize readings from all electric meters except domestic one.

Finalization of electric meter readings from all electric meters must be confirmed by customers, third party or agreed by the two sides.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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