Consumers have raised concerns over the significant increase in April's electricity bills. (Photo: hanoimoi.vn)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Government inspectorswill investigate the latest power price increase by 8.36 percent to 1,864 VND(8.03 US cents) per kWh from March 20 following concerns among the public.
According to a document sent by the GovernmentOffice, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the Government Inspectorateto work with the Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Finance to study theprice calculation method of electricity bills and their collection.
The inspectorate and the two ministries shouldclarify whether the electricity price hike was right or wrong and report to thePM by next month.
The document said the PM’s decision follows manyhouseholds complaining about sudden and significant increases in theirelectricity invoices for April.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do ThangHai said the ministry shared people’s concerns about the rise in theirelectricity bills last month.
However, the ministries had reviewed all effectsof the increase on people’s lives and the CPI with the participation of theGeneral Statistics Office (GSO) before submitting the power increase to theGovernment for consideration.
He added that the ministry asked VietnamElectricity (EVN) to resolve all complaints from people about the power hike.
“If the different pricing scheme is wrong, EVNhave to apologise and immediately correct the issue,” he said.
However, EVN said that the surge in bills wasonly partially due to the increase in electricity prices. It was unusually hotweather that caused power consumption to spike, resulting in higher bills.
The prices of many essential goods and serviceshave risen sharply following the recent hikes in electricity and petrol prices.
In the year to date, oil prices have increasedfour times by a total of 4,591 VND per litre for RON 95 gasoline and 4,418 VND forE5 gasoline.
According to farm produce wholesale markets inHCM City, the increase in fuel prices inevitably led to higher transportationcosts of fruits and vegetables from elsewhere to the city. At traditionalmarkets, the prices of most goods have gone up.
Nguyen Thanh Chau, chief of Thai Binh market in district1, said higher electricity and fuel prices pushed up the prices of vegetablesand fruits by thousands of VND per kilogramme in recent days.
A trader in Nguyen Tri Phuong market in district10 said the price of Da Lat carrots had gone up to 30,000 VND from 27,000-28,000VND per kilogramme late last month.
The price of small spring onions had risen from 40,000-42,000VND to 45,000 VND, she said.
While she used to offer customers buyingvegetables some coriander for free, now she had to charge for it, she said.
Now she had to pay nearly 7 million VND (300 USD)daily compared to over 6 million VND just after the Lunar New Year in earlyFebruary and 5-5.5 million VND earlier this year to buy the same quantity ofgoods at wholesale markets, she added.
Bui Van Quan, Chairman of the HCM City CargoTransportation Association, said with oil prices rising several times recently,transport companies had been forced to negotiate freight rates with customers.
Lam Dai Vinh, Director of Lam VinhTransportation Co., Ltd, told Thanh Nien (Young People)newspaper that container freight rates in HCM City would increase by 15-20 percentsoon.
According to Vinh, fuel accounts for 40 percentof transport costs, and the price of petrol has soared this year.
The rise in electricity prices has increased theprices of a number of other goods such as tyres and lubricants, affectingtransport companies.
“Input costs have increased relentlessly,forcing enterprises to adjust freight rates. If customers agree to the newrates we will offer them services, but otherwise not. We cannot afford furtherlosses.”
The director of a cargo transport company said atruck transporting goods from HCM City to Nha Trang and returning wouldconsume around 360 litres of petrol.
The petrol price hikes and the increases inprices of other items like lubricants and tyres due to the impact of petrol andoil increases had increased the cost of a round trip on the route by 1-1.5million VND, he added.
According to the General Statistics Office, theconsumer price index (CPI) has risen by 2.71 percent year-on-year this year.
In April, it rose 0.31 percent, representing a2.93 percent increase year-on-year.
Of the basket of goods and services that make upthe CPI, in April transportation saw the highest increase at 4.29 percent.-VNS/VNA
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