The Vietnam Electricity (EVN) is eyeing the operation of a competitive retail electricity market in 2021 following its official run of a competitive wholesale market since 2019.

At the operation centre of the EVN Southern Regional Load Dispatch Center

The development of a competitive electricity market is a long-term plan for Vietnam’s electricity sector as mandated in the 2004 Electricity Law.

The details of the plan were specified in the Prime Minister’s Decision 63/QD-TTg in 2013, which laid out the conditions and structure of the new market. The marketplace was set to be developed in three distinct parts – the power generation market, the wholesale market and finally the retail market.

EVN put into operation the competitive generation market in 2012, attracting 32 electricity plants capable of generating 9,200 MW in total at first. The number of participating plants has reached 99 now, whose accumulated capacity reaches 27,000 MW.