Conditional proposal in an electricity bill
The government has proposed adding a pathway for residential electricity prices that vary between peak, normal and off-peak hours when technical conditions allow. Industry and Trade Minister Lê Mạnh Hùng presented the Electricity Law amendment to parliament on October 20.
Households currently remain on progressive residential tariffs, while time-based pricing mainly applies to production and business users. The report lists the present six residential tiers at 1,984 to 3,460 dong per kilowatt-hour before VAT. It does not announce that households have switched to the proposed system.
The ministry previously said technical conditions were not yet sufficient for household time-of-use charging. The proposed roadmap is therefore conditional, rather than an immediate nationwide implementation date.
Household impacts and cost allocation
Lawmaker Tạ Thị Yên urged caution because evening peak hours overlap with essential family activities that are difficult to reschedule. She called for consideration of customer groups, consumption, meters, infrastructure and the ability to shift demand.
The parliamentary appraisal also sought clearer treatment of reasonable electricity costs, investment risk and any state compensation when prices are not adjusted in time. It warned against automatically transferring all commercial risks to the state, buyers or users.
Other proposals concern phasing out cross-subsidies and encouraging renewables, new energy and battery storage. These require defined scopes and impact assessments. Parliamentary debate is scheduled for November 3 and a vote for November 20, so the report describes proposed changes and scrutiny, not legislation already adopted.