Vietnam Cuts Average Retail Power Price 2% to VND2,159.90/kWh

Vietnam Electricity (EVN) cut the average retail electricity price by 2% to VND2,159.90 per kWh, excluding value-added tax, from Nov. 1, 2026, Viet Nam News reported after EVN's Saturday announcement.

Tuoi Tre News gives the unrounded figures from EVN's decision of Oct. 30: VND2,159.9037 per kWh, down from VND2,204.0655, a drop of about VND44 per kWh. Both outlets call it the first downward adjustment of the average price in roughly 20 years, not counting five Covid-19 relief rounds in 2020-2021. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) issued Decision No. 2892/QĐ-BCT the same day, setting retail tariffs for each consumer group, also effective Nov. 1.

The average price is the base from which the residential, industrial and commercial tariffs are set, so the cut reaches every customer class. For power-intensive investors in Vietnam, it eases a cost line that had risen four times since May 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng told the National Assembly that the cut, together with removing the special consumption tax on gasoline, creates 0.07 percentage points of room under the 4.5% inflation target, according to Tuoi Tre.

What the decision changes

The cut runs against the recent trend. Viet Nam News lists the path: 3% in May 2023 to VND1,920.37 per kWh, 4.5% in November 2023 to VND2,006.79, 4.8% in October 2024 to VND2,103.12, and 4.8% in May 2025 to VND2,204.07. The new price is still above the May 2023 level.

The political direction came on Oct. 28, when Thắng told EVN to review its costs and cut the average price from Nov. 1 through March 31, 2027, and told MOIT to assess the proposal in time, Viet Nam News reported. That window is the only time frame the sources give; neither says what happens to the price after March 2027.

Who pays: EVN's margin

EVN's own cost figures show how little room the cut leaves. The utility reported 2025 production and business costs of VND601.68 trillion, an average of VND2,092.70 per kWh, which was VND111.37 per kWh below the old average retail price. After the cut, the average price is about VND67 per kWh above that 2025 unit cost, a Voltgrid calculation from the two sourced figures, so the cushion shrinks by roughly 40%.

EVN also said that more than VND17.5 trillion (VND17.51 trillion, or $678 million, per Tuoi Tre) in accumulated costs had not yet been included in its cost base by the end of 2025, mainly exchange-rate differences on payments to power plants from 2021 to 2025. The sources do not say how that backlog will be recovered, or whether the state will compensate EVN for the lower tariff.

Context in Vietnam's energy policy

The tariff move follows other recent rule changes aimed at power supply and demand. Voltgrid reported that Vietnam ordered provinces to set rooftop solar incentives by December 2026, which targets peak demand rather than the retail price. Neither source says how the tariff cut interacts with those incentives.

What is not confirmed yet

The sources do not give the new tariffs for each consumer group, only the average price. They give no estimate of EVN's revenue loss or of any compensation, and no schedule for a review before the March 31, 2027 end of the stated window. The first full billing data under the new price will show how much of the 2% reaches large industrial users.