Circular 14/2022/TT-BCT amending Circular 02/2017/TT-BCT on approval of electricity transmission prices

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017 of the Minister of Industry and Trade, prescribing methods, order of setting, appraisal and approval of electricity transmission prices

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Pursuant to the Electricity Law dated December 03, 2004; the Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Electricity Law dated November 20, 2012;

Pursuant to the Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Public Investment, Law on Investment in the Form of Public-Private Partnership, Law on Investment, Housing Law, Bidding Law, Electricity Law, Law on Enterprises, Law on Excise Tax, and Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments dated January 11, 2022;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 98/2017/ND-CP dated August 18, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 137/2013/ND-CP dated October 21, 2013, detailing a number of articles of the Electricity Law and the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Electricity Law;

At the proposal of the Director of Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam,

The Minister of Industry and Trade promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017 of the Minister of Industry and Trade, prescribing methods, order of setting, appraisal and approval of electricity transmission prices.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017 of the Minister of Industry and Trade, prescribing methods, order of setting, appraisal and approval of electricity transmission prices

1. To add Clause 3 to Article 1 as follows:

“3. This Circular does not apply to investors investing in construction of transmission grids from distribution yards of one or several power plants to load capacity of one or several power plants to the connection points (is the point connecting equipment, electricity grid and power plants to the national electric system) that have another agreement with the electricity buyers in recovering of expenses for construction, management, operation and maintenance of the transmission grids.”

2. To add Clause 9 and Clause 10 to Article 2 as follows:

a) To add Clause 9 as follows:

“9. Electricity-transmitting units are electricity units granted electricity activity licenses in electricity transmission field, being responsible for managing and operating the national transmission grid, including:

- The National Power Transmission Corporation;

- Other economic sectors investing in transmission grids in accordance with the Law No. 03/2022/QH15 dated January 11, 2022 of the National Assembly.”

b) To add Clause 10 as follows:

“10. Clients using transmission grids mean organizations, individuals with electric equipment, electricity grids connected to transmission grids to use the electricity transmission service, including the Vietnam Electricity, Electricity Corporations under the Vietnam Electricity and clients buying electricity directly from transmission grids.”

3. To amend Clause 2 Article 3 as follows:

“2. Electricity transmission prices shall be annually determined based on rational and valid expenses for electricity transmission activity of electricity-transmitting units with the ratio of profits to equity determined according to the plan for retail price of electricity applied at the time of calculating the electricity transmission prices or a competent agency's decision.”

4. To amend the interpretation of the symbols “ ” and “ ” in Clause 7 Article 5 as follows:

5. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 6 as follows:

a) To amend Clause 3 as follows:

“3. Method of determining workforce cost

The total expected workforce cost of the year N  of electricity-transmitting units includes expense for wage and wage-related expenses, determined in accordance with law regulations. The wage expenses of the National Power Transmission Corporation are determined in accordance with law regulations on management of labor, wage and bonus paid to employees and wage, remuneration, bonus paid to managers in single-member limited liability companies with 100% charter capital held by the State. Wage-related expenses of the National Power Transmission Corporation include: Electricity safety regime, health insurance, social insurance, unemployment insurance and trade union fees that are determined in accordance with relevant law regulations.

In case the total workforce cost cannot be determined according to the above-mentioned method, to apply the method of calculating the total workforce cost under the following formula:

In which:

b) To amend Point a Clause 6 as follows:

“a) The total of other monetary costs of the year N ( ) includes: Other normative monetary costs, other monetary costs for incidents, taxes, charges, fees, land rental, mid-shift meal and other costs as prescribed by law regulations;”

c) To add Clause 7 as follows:

“7. In case it is not possible to determine the costs according to the norms specified in Clauses 2, 4, 5 and 6 of this Article, to apply the method of calculating the total major repair cost and other normative expenses (including cost for material, cost for outside services, other normative monetary costs) under the following formula:

In which:

6. To amend a number of clauses of Article 7 as follows:

a) To amend Clause 1 as follows:

“1. Before November 01 every year (year N-1), electricity-transmitting units shall be responsible for coordinating, making and sending the dossier of electricity transmission costs of the year N to the Vietnam Electricity for synthesis, formulation of the electricity transmission price in the year N, send a copy to report to the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam for information provision.”

b) To amend Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Within 20 working days from the date on which the Vietnam Electricity provides a valid dossier as specified in Article 8 of this Circular, the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam shall be responsible for appraising and submitting it to the Minister of Industry and Trade for approval of electricity transmission price in the year N.”

c) To amend Clause 5 as follows:

“5. In case the electricity transmission price in the year N has not been announced before December 31 of the year N-1, the parties shall agree on temporary payment in the electricity transmission service contract until the electricity transmission price in the year N is announced. The difference between payment according to the provisional price and the new electricity transmission price (in the year N) will be resettled by the parties after the electricity transmission price of the year N is approved.”

7. To amend and supplement a number of points of Clause 2 Article 8 as follows:

a) To amend Point d as follows:

“d) Explanation and calculation of the total allowable electricity transmission revenue of the year N, clearly separating the total allowable electricity transmission revenue of each electricity-transmitting unit.”

b) To add Point dd as follows:

“dd) Dossiers of electricity transmission costs of electricity-transmitting units sent to the Vietnam Electricity. A dossier of electricity transmission costs of an electricity-transmitting unit includes explanation and table of cost components of the unit as prescribed in this Circular and relevant documents and data to determine the costs.”

8. To amend Article 9 as follows:

“Article 9. Electricity transmission service contracts

1. Electricity transmission service contracts are signed between electricity-transmitting units and clients using transmission grids.

2. Clients using transmission grids shall be responsible for paying electricity-transmitting units the electricity transmission costs according to the signed contracts.”

9. To amend a number of clauses of Article 10 as follows:

a) To amend Clause 2 as follows:

“2. The Vietnam Electricity shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with electricity-transmitting units in setting annual electricity transmission prices in accordance with this Circular.”

b) To amend Clause 3 as follows:

“3. Responsibilities of electricity-transmitting units:

a) Coordinate with the Vietnam Electricity in setting annual electricity transmission prices in accordance with this Circular;

b) Coordinate with the electricity trading companies and relevant handover and receipt units in reaching an agreement on the technical design of the electricity-metering and-counting system and the measurement data collection system for electricity handover and receipt in accordance with the Regulation on electricity measurement and counting in the electric system promulgated by the Minister of Industry and Trade;

c) To reach agreement with the Vietnam Electricity on electricity transmission service contracts in accordance with law regulations;

d) On an annual basis, develop or hire specialized consultants to build rate of workforce costs, rate of major repair costs and other normative costs to propose them to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for announcement and application;

dd) The National Power Transmission Corporation shall be responsible for agreeing on connection with other economic sectors to invest in transmission grids in terms of connection points, investment boundaries, measurement and counting boundaries, electricity handover and receipt methods in accordance with the Regulation on transmission electricity systems and the Regulation on electricity measurement and counting in the electric system promulgated by the Minister of Industry and Trade;

e) Other economic sectors investing in transmission grids shall be responsible for reaching agreements on connection with the National Power Transmission Corporation and reaching agreements on connection with clients using transmission grids in regard to investment boundaries, property delimitation boundaries, measurement and counting boundaries in accordance with the Regulation on transmission electricity systems promulgated by the Minister of Industry and Trade to serve as the basis for determining transmitted power output.”

Article 2. Adding and replacing a number of phrases in the Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017 of the Minister of Industry and Trade, prescribing methods, order of setting, appraisal and approval of electricity transmission prices

1. To add the phrase “the Vietnam Electricity” after the phrase “Units paying the electricity transmission cost are” in Clause 3 Article 2.

2. To replace the phrase “the National Power Transmission Corporation” with the phrase “Electricity-transmitting units” in Clause 2 Article 1, Clause 1 Article 2, Clause 8 Article 2, Clause 3 Article 3, Article 4, Point b Clause 2 Article 8, Point c Clause 2 Article 8 and Point a Clause 3 Article 8.

3. To replace the phrase “Electricity Corporations” with the phrase “Electricity Corporations under the Vietnam Electricity” in Clause 2 Article 1, Clause 1 Article 2, and Clause 3 Article 2.

4. To replace the phrase “in accordance with regulations of the Vietnam Electricity” with the phrase “in accordance with law regulations” at Point a Clause 2 Article 6, Point d Clause 6 Article 6.

Article 3. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on November 22, 2022.

2. During the implementation, in case legal normative documents referred to in Article 1 of this Circular are amended, supplemented or superseded, the amending, supplementing, superseding documents shall be applied.

3. Any difficulty and problem arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for amendment and supplementation./.