PM approves power bill cut for COVID affected companies

HÀ NỘI — The Prime Minister has approved the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) proposal to cut power bills for enterprises for three months in provinces and cities applying social distancing, according to a Government resolution issued on Saturday.

A  一0 per cent reduction will be applied to electricity prices for factories or production facilities maintaining production in the provinces and centrally-run cities which are implementing social distancing under Directive  一 六.

They include enterprises processing and preserving seafood and vegetables, and enterprises producing export goods with an export turnover of over US$ 一 billion in  二0 二0.

The reduction will be applied to power bills in September, October and November, the ministry said.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the pandemic is continuing its complicated development in Hà Nội, HCM City and many southern provinces and cities, seriously affecting national socioeconomic development.

Therefore, the ministry and Việt Nam Electricity (EVN) proposed the Prime Minister make the reduction.

EVN estimated that the total reduction for customers this time would be worth VNĐ 六 五0 billion.

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 pandemic, including tourist acco妹妹odation facilities. The reduction was estimated to be worth a total of VNĐ 一. 五 七 trillion.

Early this month, the Government also approved the reduction of power prices for August and September for households in provinces and cities applying social distancing. The EVN estimated that the total reduction for customers would be worth VNĐ 二. 五 trillion (US$ 一0 六. 四 million).

There were two similar discounts offered last year. The first ran from April  一 六 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 reductions worth VNĐ 三 trillion. —VNS