Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Feb. 23 signed a decision to increase the average electricity price to 1,242 VND/kWh (not including value added tax) from March 1, up 165 VND/kWh compared with the average price applied in 2010.

Under the Decision No 269/QD-TTg, the PM assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to calculate and announce the detail price applied to groups of customers.

The MoIT was asked to partner with the Ministry of Finance to inspect the implementation of the decision in 2011, evaluate impacts of the hike on production and people’s daily life and proactively adopt necessary measures to stabilise the power price.

The two ministries will work with the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) to set up a plan to ensure the financial integrity of the power sector based on the newly ratified price and then submit this plan to the PM for approval.

Each poor or low-income household will receive 30,000 VND in support for the first 50KWh they use each month.

MoIT, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs and municipal and provincial People’s Committees were assigned to launch the price subsidies for poor and low-income families