EVN urges government to add $64.96m to electricity purchase costs

Coal demand for electricity generation is estimated at 25.84 million tonnes in 2019.

Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) is urging authorities to add $64.96m (VND1.49t) to electricity purchase costs due to increasing coal prices as proposed by the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) and the Northeast Corporation, a report revealed.

In its official dispatch to the prime minister, EVN highlighted that the coal demand for electricity generation in 2019 is estimated to hit 25.84 million tons, from which Vinacomin and Northeast Corporation supply 19 million tons of domestic coal and import 6.84 million tons of mixed coal.

Vinacomin and Northeast Corporation will reportedly mix domestic with imported coal to make mixed coal with Vietnamese standard TCVN 8910:2018 for thermal power plants of EVN and member units with the higher prices from $8.15-$11.84 (VND188,000-273,000) per tonne.

Meanwhile, EVN also proposed to allow power plants to adjust the electricity prices in power purchase agreements (PPAs), participate in the electricity market with the costs of mixed coal and update calculation to include mixed coal prices to the average electricity prices in 2019.