PM approves reduction in power bills for people impacted by Directive 16

HÀ NỘI — 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  一 五 per cent reduction will be applied to electricity prices for households which have electricity consumption of up to  二00kWh per month while households which have electricity consumption of more than  二00kWh will receive a  一0 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- 一 九 in those localities.

This reduction will be applied to bills over seven months from June  二0 二 一 until December  二0 二 一.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as of July  三0,  二0 二 一, Việt Nam had  二 一 provinces and cities applying social distancing measures under the Prime Minister’s Directive  一 六/CT-TTg to control the COVID- 一 九 pandemic.

The people’s life in those localities faces many difficulties. Therefore, the ministry and the Việt 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 VNĐ 二. 五 trillion (US$ 一0 六. 四 million).

On June  二 , the Government issued Resolution No  五 五/NQ-CP to reduce electricity prices from June to the end of this year to support those heavily affected by the prolonged COVID- 一 九 pandemic, including tourist acco妹妹odation facilities. The reduction was estimated to be worth a total of VNĐ 一. 五 七 trillion.

There were two similar discounts offered last year. The first ran from April  一 六,  二0 二0 to July  一 七,  二0 二0 and supported more than  二 七 million customers with the total reduction reaching around VNĐ 九. 三 trillion.

The second was from October to December  二0 二0 with more than  二 五. 四 million customers enjoying the reductions worth VNĐ 三 trillion. VNS