Electricity of Việt Nam's system of telecommunications equipment for electricity management, production and trading. Việt Nam is completing a legal system to develop a competitive wholesale electricty market. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngọc Hà

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has released the draft of a circular prescribing the operation of the competitive wholesale electricity market for public comment from March 13.

This draft applies to organisations participating in the electricity wholesale market, including wholesalers, energy generator businesses, electricity system and market operators, and electricity transmission units.

It will replace Circular 45/2018/TT-BCT issued in 2018 by MoIT, and amend and supplement some articles of Circular 56/2014/TT-BCT prescribing methods of determination of electricity generation costs and processes for inspecting power purchase agreements, and Circular 24/2019/TT-BCT issued in 2019.

The detailed draft is available at the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Việt Nam's website. All comments on this draft circular may be sent to the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Việt Nam, under MoIT, according to the ministry.

This circular is expected to be released on June 30 and come into effect from July 15.

According to the Electricity Law and Decision 63/2013/QĐ-TTg dated November 8, 2013 of the Prime Minister, the competitive electricity market in Việt Nam is formed and developed at the following levels: competitive generation market (level 1); competitive wholesale electricity market (level 2); and competitive retail electricity market (level 3).

MoIT has put the competitive generation market into operation from July 1, 2012, and the competitive wholesale electricity market into operation from January 1, 2019.

Continuing to improve the legal system will create transparency and fair competition among market participants, contributing to the sustainable development of Việt Nam's electricity market. — VNS