The Prime Minister has approved the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s proposal to cut power bills for households for two months in provinces and cities applying social distancing, the ministry announced on Saturday.

A 15 per cent reduction will be applied to electricity prices for households which have electricity consumption of up to 200kWh per month while households which have electricity consumption of more than 200kWh will receive a 10 per cent discount.

The reduction will be applied to power bills in August and September, the ministry said.

The Prime Minister also agreed to offer free power for medical facilities and quarantine areas and for people who have been infected or are suspected of having COVID-19 in those localities.

This reduction will be applied to bills over seven months from June 2021 until December 2021.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as of July 30, 2021, Viet Nam had 21 provinces and cities applying social distancing measures under the Prime Minister’s Directive 16/CT-TTg to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

The people’s life in those localities faces many difficulties. Therefore, the ministry and the Viet Nam Electricity (EVN) proposed to the Prime Minister to have the four reductions.

The EVN estimated that the total reduction for customers would be worth VND2.5 trillion (US$106.4 million).

On June 2 , the Government issued Resolution No 55/NQ-CP to reduce electricity prices from June to the end of this year to support those heavily affected by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, including tourist accommodation facilities. The reduction was estimated to be worth a total of VND1.57 trillion.

There were two similar discounts offered last year. The first ran from April 16, 2020 to July 17, 2020 and supported more than 27 million customers with the total reduction reaching around VND9.3 trillion.

The second was from October to December 2020 with more than 25.4 million customers enjoying the reductions worth VND3 trillion. — VNS