Employees of EVN Hanoi maintain power lines. The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that since the beginning of the year, it has yet to increase power retail prices - PHOTO: VNA

The ministry said that since the start of the year, it has not increased power retail prices. At a meeting of the Steering Committee for Price Management on April 21, the prime minister ordered the ministry not to raise electricity prices throughout this year.

To support businesses and local households affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the ministry had asked the prime minister to approve a plan to reduce the electricity prices and bills of its customers in three months.

After the Government’s Resolution No. 41 was issued, the ministry directed the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) and its provincial units to implement the plan to cut electricity prices and bills to ease the financial pressures brought about by the pandemic.

During the hot summer season in many parts of the country, the ministry had urged EVN and electricity corporations nationwide to improve their efficiency, including handling their inquiries about the usage of electricity and big electricity bills.

On March 20 last year, the ministry had increased local power prices by 8.36% and received many complaints from customers about their unusually high electricity bills. The prime minister then asked the ministry to inspect the implementation of the power price hike, following which the ministry set up an inspection team to work with electricity corporations nationwide and discovered no unexpected issues. SGT