On the evening of 10 November 2026, at the National Assembly building, the NA Standing Committee, chaired by NA Chairman Tran Thanh Man, reviewed how the drafting agency had explained, absorbed and revised the draft law amending and supplementing several articles of the Electricity Law. Based on the session's opinions, the Standing Committee agreed to submit the draft to the National Assembly. Few laws touch businesses and households as widely, since electricity feeds almost every production, commercial and household activity.
Three revisions on power pricing
Reporting to the session, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Truong Thanh Hoai said the draft had received 81 comments from deputies, 69 in group discussions and 12 in the plenary hall. According to Bao Cong Thuong, the pricing provisions were revised in three ways:
- Time-of-use pricing will apply only on a pilot basis, rather than being rolled out at once.
- Low-income households will still be charged under the tiered tariff, protecting vulnerable groups.
- The provision under which the State guarantees full cost recovery is removed; investment risk is borne by the enterprises themselves.
The approach is a careful one: test the new pricing mechanism before expanding it, while keeping a safety net for low-income users. Having enterprises carry their own investment risk also fits the direction of running the power sector on market principles, which asks investors to assess efficiency more rigorously.
Small modular nuclear power and the electricity market
The draft places small modular nuclear power under strict State control. According to the drafting agency, the provisions institutionalise the policy in Politburo Resolution No. 70-NQ/TW on energy security. The draft also removed priority provisions in Articles 15, 18 and 19 and revised the rules on electricity market licences across several articles.
For hydropower dam safety, the draft assigns the provincial People's Committee where the facility is located to lead the approval, clarifying local responsibility.
Clear criteria for choosing investors
According to Tap chi Cong Thuong, Nguyen Thanh Hai, Chair of the NA Committee for Science, Technology and Environment, noted that the provision allowing investors to be selected without auctions or tenders is broad in scope and lacks clear criteria. NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Hong Dien, who moderated the session, asked the Government to regulate these cases strictly.
This is a constructive signal for the investment climate: clearer criteria give private and foreign investors a firmer basis to join power-generation projects as electricity demand rises alongside Vietnam's high growth targets.
Key takeaways
- The NA Standing Committee agreed to submit the amended Electricity Law to the National Assembly.
- Time-of-use pricing only as a pilot; low-income households keep tiered tariffs; the State guarantee of full cost recovery is removed.
- Small modular nuclear power stays under strict State control; selecting investors without auctions or tenders must be tightly regulated.