Circular No. 14/2022/TT-BCT amends and supplements some provisions of Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT on the method for establishing, procedures for establishing, reviewing, and approving transmission electricity prices.

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017, issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade on the method, procedure for preparation, review, and approval of transmission electricity prices

dated February 10, 2017, issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade stipulating the method, procedure for preparation, review, and approval of transmission electricity prices

Pursuant to the Electricity Law dated December 3, 2004; and the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Electricity Law dated November 20, 2012;

Pursuant to the Law amending and supplementing some articles of the Public Investment Law, the Public-Private Partnership Investment Law, the Investment Law, the Housing Law, the Bidding Law, the Electricity Law, the Enterprise Law, the Special Consumption Tax Law, and the Civil Enforcement Law dated January 11, 2022;

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

Based on Decree No. 137/2013/NĐ-CP dated October 21, 2013, issued by the Government, detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Electricity Law and the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Electricity Law;

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

The Minister of Industry and Trade promulgates this Circular amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017, issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade stipulating the method, procedure for preparation, review, and approval of transmission electricity prices.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017, issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade stipulating the method, procedure for preparation, review, and approval of transmission electricity prices

1. Supplement Clause 3 of Article 1 as follows:

"3. This Circular shall not apply to investors implementing investment in constructing transmission networks from distribution substations of one or several power plants to deliver the capacity of one or several power plants to the point of interconnection (which is the point where equipment, network, and power plant are connected to the national power system) with different agreements with the electricity purchaser regarding the recovery of construction, management, operation, and maintenance costs of the transmission network."

2. Supplement Clause 9 and Clause 10 of Article 2 as follows:

a) Supplement Clause 9 as follows:

“9. Transmission electricity unit is an electric power unit granted a license to operate in the field of transmission, responsible for managing and operating the national transmission network, including:

- National Power Transmission Corporation;

- Other economic components investing in transmission networks according to Law No. 03/2022/QH15 dated January 11, 2022, of the National Assembly.”

b) Supplement Clause 10 as follows:

“10. Customers using the transmission network are organizations and individuals having electrical equipment and networks connected to the transmission network to use transmission services, including Vietnam Electricity Group, subsidiaries of Vietnam Electricity Group, and customers purchasing electricity directly from the transmission network.”

3. Amend Clause 2 of Article 3 as follows:

“2. The transmission price is determined annually based on reasonable and legitimate expenses for transmission activities of the Transmission Unit with a profit rate on equity capital determined according to the retail electricity pricing scheme currently in effect at the time of calculating the transmission price or the decision of the competent authority.”

4. Amend the explanation of symbols “ ” and “ ” in Clause 7 of Article 5 as follows:

5. Amend and supplement some clauses of Article 6 as follows:

a) Amending Clause 3 as follows:

“3. Method for determining labor costs

Total expected labor costs in N ||| of the Transmission Unit include salary costs and other costs with the nature of salary, determined according to the provisions of the law. Salary costs of the National Power Transmission Corporation are determined according to the regulations on labor management, salary, bonuses for employees, and remuneration, bonuses for managers in a limited liability company wholly owned by the State. Other costs with the nature of salary of the National Power Transmission Corporation include: safety allowance, health insurance, social insurance, unemployment insurance, and trade union fees, determined according to relevant laws.

In case the total labor costs cannot be determined as above, the following formula shall be applied to calculate the total labor costs:

Where:

b) Amend Point a of Clause 6 as follows:

“a) Total other monetary costs in N ||| ( ) including: other monetary costs within the standard, other monetary costs due to incidents, taxes, fees, land rental costs, meal allowances, and other costs as prescribed by law;”

c) Supplement Clause 7 as follows:

“7. In case the costs cannot be determined according to the standards prescribed in Clauses 2, 4, 5, and 6 of this Article, the following formula shall be applied to calculate the total major repair costs and other standard costs (including material costs, purchased service costs, and other non-standard monetary costs):

Where:

6. Amend some clauses of Article 7 as follows:

a) Amend Clause 1 as follows:

“1. Before November 1 each year (year N-1), the Transmission Units are responsible for coordinating, preparing, and submitting the transmission cost report for N ||| to Vietnam Electricity Group for consolidation and preparation of the transmission price for N |||, sending a copy of the report to the Electricity Regulatory Authority for information.”

b) Amend Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Within twenty working days from the date Vietnam Electricity Group provides complete and valid documents as stipulated in Article 8 of this Circular, the Electricity Regulatory Authority is responsible for reviewing and submitting to the Minister of Industry and Trade for approval of the transmission price for N.”

c) Amend Clause 5 as follows:

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

7. Amend and supplement some points in Clause 2, Article 8 as follows:

a) Amend Point d as follows:

“d) Explanation and calculation of the total permitted revenue for electricity transmission in year N |||, including a clear breakdown of the total permitted revenue for each Transmission Unit.”

b) Supplement Point đ as follows:

“đ) Cost documentation of Transmission Units submitted to Vietnam Electricity Corporation. The cost documentation of Transmission Units includes explanations, tables of cost components of the unit as stipulated in this Circular, and relevant documents and data to determine costs.”

8. Amend Article 9 as follows:

“Article 9. Electricity Transmission Service Contract

1. The electricity transmission service contract shall be concluded between the Electricity Transmission Units and the Customers using the transmission grid.

2. Customers using the transmission grid have the responsibility to pay the electricity transmission costs to the Transmission Unit according to the signed contract.”

9. Amend some clauses in Article 10 as follows:

a) Amending Clause 2 as follows:

“2. Vietnam Electricity Corporation has the responsibility to take the lead and coordinate with Transmission Units to establish the annual electricity transmission price in accordance with this Circular.”

b) Amending Clause 3 as follows:

“3. Responsibilities of Transmission Units:

a) Coordinate with Vietnam Electricity Corporation to establish the annual electricity transmission price in accordance with this Circular;

b) Coordinate with Power Trading Company and related power delivery units in agreeing and unifying technical design of the Metering System and Data Collection System for power delivery in accordance with the Regulation on Electric Energy Metering in the Power System issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade;

c) Negotiating and agreeing with Vietnam Electricity Corporation on the transmission service contract in accordance with the law;

d) Annually, build or hire specialized consultants to construct labor cost ratios, major repair cost ratios, and other standard cost ratios to propose the Ministry of Industry and Trade to publish and apply;

đ) National Power Transmission Corporation has the responsibility to negotiate interconnection with other economic entities implementing transmission grid investment regarding connection points, investment boundaries, metering boundaries, and power delivery methods in compliance with the Transmission System Regulations and the Electric Energy Metering Regulations in the Power System issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade;

e) Other economic entities investing in the transmission grid have the responsibility to negotiate interconnection with National Power Transmission Corporation and agree with customers using the transmission grid on investment boundaries, asset demarcation boundaries, and metering boundaries in accordance with the Transmission System Regulations issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade to serve as the basis for determining transmission electricity volume.”

Article 2. Supplement and replace some phrases in Circular number 02/2017/TT-BCT dated February 10, 2017, of the Minister of Industry and Trade on the method, procedure for establishment, review, and approval of electricity transmission prices

1. Add the phrase “Vietnam Electricity Corporation” after the phrase “The entity responsible for paying the electricity transmission cost is” in Clause 3, Article 2.

2. Replace the phrase “National Power Transmission Corporation” with the phrase “Transmission Unit” 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. Replace the phrase “National Electricity Corporation” with the phrase “National Electricity Corporation under Vietnam Electricity Corporation” in Clause 2, Article 1, Clause 1, Article 2, and Clause 3, Article 2.

4. Replace the phrase “as prescribed by Vietnam Electricity Corporation” with the phrase “as prescribed by law” in Point a, Clause 2, Article 6, and Point d, Clause 6, Article 6.

Article 3. Implementation Provisions

1. This Circular takes effect from November 22, 2022.
2. During implementation, if the regulatory legal documents cited in Article 1 of this Circular are amended, supplemented, or replaced by new documents, then the new documents shall be applied.
3. During implementation, if any difficulties arise, organizations and individuals are responsible for reporting to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for appropriate supplementation and amendment./.