EVN seeks higher prices in anticipation of coal hike
Thứ ba, 5/1/2010 | 15:19 GMT+7
State-owned Electricity of Vietnam is seeking government approval to raise power prices by up to 13.8 percent from last year following a massive price hike proposal by coal monopoly Vinacomin.
In a recent proposal submitted to the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, power monopoly EVN wanted to raise retail prices by between 6.2 and 13.8 percent, saying new coal prices offered by Vinacomin would be “very high”. EVN also listed higher fuel, gas and dollar costs as reasons for its proposal.
Vinacomin, or Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group, last month asked for government consent to raise coal prices supplied to Electricity of Vietnam by as much as 149 percent in 2010.
Although the newly proposed prices are still 10 percent lower than export prices, experts said the hikes would come as a shock to EVN. They said if the government approved the new coal prices, EVN could increase power prices by 17.11 percent next year to ensure profitability, which would then hurt economic growth and hinder investment.
Source: Vietnamnet