Vietnam Power Tariff Cut: 5-Tier Electricity Pricing from November 1

Overview

Vietnam’s average retail electricity price has been cut 2% to 2,159.9 VND per kWh (excluding VAT), and the household tariff structure reduced from six tiers to five, effective November 1 and running through the end of March 2027. The change lowers monthly bills for more than 98% of residential customers but raises them for households consuming above roughly 903 kWh per month, according to EVN’s calculations. The policy matters for PV Power (POW), listed on HOSE, because it resets the retail price signal that ultimately feeds back into the wholesale and generation pricing chain.

Key Facts

• Average retail electricity price set at 2,159.9 VND/kWh excluding VAT, a 2% reduction from the level in place at the end of October.
• Household tariff cut from 6 tiers to 5, with thresholds at 100, 200, 400 and 700 kWh.
• Tier prices range from 1,901 VND/kWh at the bottom to 3,844 VND/kWh at the top, excluding VAT.
• The spread between lowest and highest tier is 1,943 VND/kWh, more than double.
• Tier 4 (201-400 kWh) sees the largest adjustment, down 280 VND/kWh versus the old structure.
• A household using 400 kWh pays 997,800 VND, about 76,700 VND (roughly 7%) less than before.
• Break-even versus the old six-tier schedule is approximately 903 kWh per month; a 1,000 kWh user pays 37,300 VND (1.2%) more, and a 2,000 kWh user pays 421,300 VND (6.4%) more.
• The new schedule is stated to run until the end of March 2027.

What Happened

According to the announced tariff schedule, the average retail power price was lowered 2% to 2,159.9 VND per kWh excluding VAT, and the residential tier structure was consolidated from six brackets to five from November 1. The first tiers were merged while consumption above 400 kWh was split into two brackets, producing a schedule where the lowest unit price is 1,901 VND/kWh and the highest is 3,844 VND/kWh. Electricity is still billed progressively, with each block of consumption charged at its own tier price.

Nguyễn Đình Phước, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Electricity (EVN), said household bills are affected simultaneously by the 2% average price cut and the shift from six tiers to five. Ngô Trí Long, former director of the Institute for Price Market Research under the Ministry of Finance, noted that a lower average price does not mean every household bill falls by the same proportion, since the actual amount depends on the tariff structure and monthly consumption. EVN’s calculation combining both changes shows bills falling for more than 98% of residential users, with only about 1.8% paying more.

Market Context

PV Power (POW) closed at 12,000 VND on November 3, 2026, on HOSE. The retail tariff decision is a policy event for the utilities and energy sector rather than a direct earnings driver for POW, whose revenue comes from selling electricity into the grid rather than from the residential tariff schedule itself. The direction of travel matters: a lower average retail price compresses the margin space between generation costs and end-user prices, a recurring tension in Vietnam’s regulated power market. The tier restructuring also carries an explicit efficiency signal, rewarding lower and mid-level consumption while penalizing heavy users.

Strategic Significance

The structural change is more consequential than the 2% headline. By merging the lower tiers and steepening the top of the schedule, the regulator is shifting the burden toward high-consumption households while protecting the majority of voters and small users from bill increases. For generators such as POW, the relevant question is whether a lower average retail price constrains the room for future wholesale price adjustments and for the cost pass-through that underpins generation economics. A tariff schedule fixed through March 2027 gives the market a visible pricing window, but it also signals that retail price increases will be politically difficult to deliver even if input costs rise.

What to Watch

• The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s next review of the average retail price, and whether the 2% cut is reversed after the March 2027 expiry of the current schedule.
• Any adjustment to the wholesale and avoided-cost pricing mechanisms that transmit retail prices back to generators such as POW.
• POW’s quarterly generation and revenue disclosures for evidence of demand or dispatch changes following the November 1 tariff shift.
• EVN’s reported residential consumption mix, particularly whether high-usage households above 903 kWh reduce consumption in response to the steeper top tier.
• Input-cost developments, including gas and coal prices, that determine whether the current retail price level remains sustainable.