Prime Minister agrees to raise electricity tariff since 2009

Thứ tư, 1/10/2008 | 00:00 GMT+7
“The Prime Minister has agreed with the policy on raising electricity tariff since the year 2009 as proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In the next coming time, we will propose to raise the electricity tariff for population’s consumption and electricity tariff for production will not go up, if yes, just a little bit.” said the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu in the periodical Governmental press meeting yesterday afternoon on September 30.

 

Accordingly, the Ministry is submitting the policy on raising average electricity tariff by 20% - 30% in 2009 – 2010, mainly for the electricity used for population’s consumption. After the Ministry submits the policy to the Government, the Government will look into the policy and reach a decision. The average electricity tariff for population’s consumption is currently 862 dong/kWh.

Explaining for this rising price, Mr. Khu said that: “In the past few years, we have stably maintained the electricity tariff to restrict inflation. As guided by the Prime Minister, the tariff will be increased since 2009 and by 2010 the electricity tariff of Vietnam will have been equal to that of other countries in the region. The Government will support poverty-stricken households when it implements the policy of increasing electricity tariff.

The Deputy Prime Minister has made a comparison that in many countries, the tariff of electricity for population’s consumption is lower than that for production, but the situation is in contrast in Vietnam. Therefore, we are proposing to increase the electricity tariff for population’s consumption and that for production will not be increased, if yes, just a little bit. Currently, electricity for production accounts for 56%.

Along with electricity tariff, the tariff of fresh water, public transportation and so on will also increase in 2009.

 

Theo: VTC News