Chương IV Thông tư 57/2020/TT-BCT: Điều khoản thi hành

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 21. Responsibilities of Ministry of Industry and Trade

1. Guiding natural gas consumption mechanisms in power purchase agreements conforming to regulations under gas sale and purchase agreements and gas sale agreements approved by competent authority.  

2. Deciding on paying for differences in rates of power plants.

Article 22. Responsibilities of Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam

1. Examining and providing feedback on power purchase agreements and revisions of power purchase agreements of power plants.

2. Guiding and dealing with difficulties arising during negotiation on power purchase agreements between parties.

3. On an annual basis, consolidating feedback of entities regarding input figures for calculating power purchase agreement value specified under Annex 1 hereof and proposing to Minister of Industry and Trade for consideration, decision and revision (if any).

4. Dealing with conflicts that arise during execution of power purchase agreements in case both parties agree to settle conflicts at Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam.

5. Examining, consolidating and reporting to Ministry of Industry and Trade to consider paying for difference in rates among power plants after receiving reports of EVN.

Article 23. Responsibilities of Vietnam Electricity

1. Before January 31 each year, taking charge and cooperating with the Buyer and the Seller in calculating difference in rates in execution of power purchase agreements of the previous year according to Clause 2 Article 14 hereof, and reporting to Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam. 

2. On an annual basis, considering and requesting Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam to revise input figures for calculating power purchase agreement value according to Annex 1 hereof and other contents in this Circular (if any).

Article 24. Responsibilities of the Buyer

1. Agreeing with the Seller on redistributing specific connection costs to project developers of power plants connecting to power lines, electrical substations and revising specific connection costs (if any) to enable the Seller to recover construction, management, operation and maintenance costs for power lines and electrical substations as per the law.  

2. Negotiating power purchase agreements with the Seller; being responsible and guaranteeing accuracy, legitimacy of provided figures and documents. Agreeing with the Seller on submitting reports on inspection of power purchase agreements to Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam as per the law.

3. Before January 15 each year, taking charge and cooperating with the Seller in calculating difference in rates in execution of power purchase agreements of the previous year according to Clause 2 Article 14 hereof, providing to EVN and reporting to Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam. 

Article 25. Responsibilities of the Seller

1. Negotiating with the Buyer, reporting to Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam regarding inspection and signing of power purchase agreements as per the law prior to construction commencement date; being responsible and ensuring accuracy, legitimacy of provided figures and documents.

2. Developing construction investment projects for power lines and electrical substations to load capacity of power plants when assigned to implement construction investment by competent authority according to national electricity development planning and provincial planning (if any). Power lines and electrical substations must operate and load all capacity and electrical production of power plants in vicinity according to approved plans.

3. Allowing power plants within national electrical development planning or provincial planning to connect to power lines and electrical substations to send electricity to national electrical grid.

4. Agreeing with project developers of power plants on distributing and revising specific connection costs to enable project developers to recover construction, management, operation and maintenance costs for power lines and electrical substations as per the law.  

5. Being responsible for managing, operating and maintaining power lines and electrical substations within their investment and construction capacity as per the law.

6. Providing adequate information, being responsible, ensuring accuracy and legitimacy of figures and documents provided to relevant entities and agencies during power purchase agreement negotiation and inspection process.

7. The Seller is responsible for selecting fuel suppliers and/or transporters according to bidding laws, other regulations and law and legally responsible for ensuring equality, competitiveness and transparency except for following cases:

 (i) The Seller has signed mid-term or long-term fuel supply contracts with fuel suppliers;

 (ii) Natural gas supply contracts and fees for collecting, transporting and distributing natural gas conform to regulations of competent authority.

In case of inability to select fuel transporters via bidding due to special reasons (other than exceptions 7.i and 7.ii above), the Seller is responsible for negotiating with fuel suppliers or fuel transporters (depending on cases under Article 26 of this Circular) according to unit price promulgated by competent agencies; if unit price has not been promulgated by competent agencies, the Seller is responsible for negotiating with fuel suppliers or transporters (depending on cases under Article 26 of this Circular) according to unit price calculated on the basis of internal unit price of selected fuel transporters, ensuring effectiveness, competitiveness and not exceeding unit price of other transport service providers within the same means of transport (if any), price of fuel transported to warehouses of the Seller not exceeding price of the same fuel at warehouses of the Seller provided by other providers (if any).    

Prior to signing fuel transport contracts without bidding, the Seller must provide the Buyer with documents agreed upon under power purchase agreements.  Within 20 days from the date on which the Seller provide adequate documents and the Buyer has not provided feedback on selection of fuel transporters, the Seller and/or fuel transporters (depending on delivery conditions) may sign fuel transport contracts based on terms agreed upon.

The Seller is responsible for signing fuel purchase, sale and transport agreements according to applicable laws while ensuring competitive price and transparency.”

8. The Seller is responsible for all input figures for calculating power purchase agreement values and responsible for controlling and bidding for fuel supply and transport agreements while ensuring legal fuel sources, competitive price and transparency.

9. Before January 15 of each year, the Seller shall submit reports on execution of power purchase agreements of the previous year with the Buyer, difficulties that arise during execution of power purchase agreements and proposed solutions (if any) to Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam.

10. Before January 15 each year, cooperating with the Buyer in calculating difference in rates in execution of power purchase agreements of the previous year according to Clause 2 Article 14 hereof, sending to EVN and reporting to Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam. 

Article 26. Responsibilities of fuel suppliers and transporters

1. For gas fuel

(i) Domestic natural gas suppliers and transporters sign GSPA, GSA, gas transport agreements (GTA) as per relevant laws, in which:

- Price of domestically extracted natural gas is price of gas extracted from gas mines.

- For natural gas domestically extracted via pipelines for collecting, transporting and distributing that are exclusive in nature, fees for collecting, transporting and distributing emission must be approved by competent authority.

(ii) Fuel suppliers and transporters for fuel imported by pipes and for LNG shall provide gas according to relevant law provisions, in which:

- In case clauses of gas storage and distribution are exclusive in nature, fees for storage, regasification and distribution must be approved by competent authority.

- In case of delivery at ports for export: Price of import gas shall be price of gas at delivery points at ports for export.

- In case of delivery at gas distribution stations or LNG warehouses in Vietnam, gas price includes costs for purchasing import gas, LNG and legitimate costs related to import activities (if any) namely import tariffs, financial expenses, insurance, norm interest and other costs related to import activities of fuel suppliers.

2. For coal fuel

(i) In case of delivery at warehouses and ports of the Seller, selected coal suppliers are responsible for:

- Organize selecting coal transporters as per bidding laws and relevant law provisions on the basis of equality, competitiveness, transparency and legal responsibility.

- In case coal suppliers are unable to select coal transporters via bidding due to special causes, coal suppliers are responsible for selecting coal transporters following similar principles applied to the Seller under Clause 7 Article 25 hereof.

- Signing coal transport agreements with selected coal suppliers as per the law.  Prior to signing coal transport contracts not via bidding, selected coal suppliers are responsible for providing relevant documents to the Seller. 

(ii) In case of delivery at warehouses and ports of coal suppliers:

- The Seller shall organize selection of coal transporters according to Clause 7 Article 25 hereof.

- Coal transporters selected by the Seller shall sign coal transport agreements as per the law with the Seller.  Prior to signing coal transport contracts not via bidding, selected coal suppliers are responsible for providing relevant documents to the Seller. 

Article 27. Amendments to Circular No. 57/2014/TT-BCT dated December 19, 2014 of Minister of Industry and Trade on methods and procedures for developing and promulgating price range for electricity generation

1. Amend Clause 3 Article 6 as follows:

“3. Investment unit cost refers to investment cost for 1 kW of average net capacity of standard power plants calculated on the basis of total investment valid at the time of calculating price range for electricity generation and current foreign exchange rate. Components of investment unit cost include:

a) Construction costs include costs for constructing structures, work items; deconstructing and dismantling old architectural components; leveling construction premises; constructing temporary structures; auxiliary structures serving construction; temporary housing structures for residential and construction operation;

b) Equipment costs including costs for purchasing technology equipment, training factory operation; installing, testing, calibrating; transporting, insurance, taxes and other relevant costs;

c) Compensations for land clearance and relocation costs according to decisions of competent authority; costs for fortifying construction foundation;

d) Project management costs include costs for organizing implementation of project management affairs from project development to inspection for acceptance and use;

dd) Construction consultancy costs include costs for consulting survey, design, construction supervision, inspection consultancy and other construction consultancy costs;

e) Other costs including working capital during factory operation for acceptance, loan interests, loan costs during power plant constructions and other necessary costs;

g) Backup costs include costs for additional work load and inflation factor that occurs during construction period.”

2. Amend Point a Clause 4 Article 6 as follows:

“a) Loan interest rate rd (%) determined by weighted average of interest rates of loans in domestic and foreign currency based on following formula:

rd = DF x rd,F + DD x rd,D

In which:

DF: Percentage of loans in foreign currency in total loans under Annex 1 hereof (%);

DD: Percentage of loans in domestic currency in total loans under Annex 1 hereof (%);

rd,F: Interest rates of loans in foreign currency determined on the basis of interest rates of loans in foreign currency of power plant projects which undergo electricity price negotiation in the last 5 years from the date on which price range for electricity generation (%/year);

rd,D: Interest rates of loans in foreign currency determined on the basis of interest rates of loans in foreign currency of power plant projects which undergo electricity price negotiation in the last 5 years from the date on which price range for electricity generation (%/year).”

3. Amend Article 8 as follows:

“Variable costs of standard power plants for year in which price range is applied (VC) refer to components for recovering fuel costs, other variable costs of standard power plants with number of hour operating at maximum capacity, determined by using following formula:

VC = HR x Pnlc x (1+f)

In which:

VC: Variable costs of standard power plants (VND/kWh);

HR: Net heat loss rate calculated at load level specified under Annex 1 hereof, unit of measurement: kcal/kWh or kJ/kWh or BTU/kWh;

f: Percentage of total costs for initiation, fuel – auxiliary material costs and other variable costs for electricity generation over primary fuel costs, specified under Annex 1 hereof (%);

Pnlc: Primary fuel costs of standard power plants, excluding transport fees; for coal-fired power plants that already include depreciation, management costs, insurance (if any); in case fuel supply agreements cannot separate fuel transport costs, primary fuel costs shall equal costs under primary fuel sale and purchase agreements; unit of measurement of Pnlc: VND/kcal or VND/kJ or VND/BTU.”

4. Revise net heat loss rate and primary fuel costs under Annex 2 as follows:

Article 28. Transition clauses

1. For power purchase agreements signed before the effective date hereof, both parties shall execute signed power purchase agreements until said agreements expire.

2. For electricity projects entering into power purchase agreements using methods under Circular No. 56/2014/TT-BCT , Circular No. 51/2015/TT-BCT dated December 29, 2015 and electricity projects executed before September 19, 2017, when settled investment capital is approved, both parties hold the rights to request recalculation of electricity price according to Article 12 hereof.

3. For power plants entering into power purchase agreements, if necessary, both parties shall negotiate and add kHR according to Article 15 hereof.

4. For power plants entering into power purchase agreements, in case agreements on upstream consumption of gas are approved by competent authority, Ministry of Industry and Trade shall provide guidelines on gas consumption mechanisms for power plants and permit both parties to revise power purchase agreements.

5. For power plants whose construction has been commenced and power plants that have not concluded negotiation for power purchase agreement value before the effective date hereof, may negotiate after construction commencement date using methods under this Circular.  

Article 29. Entry into force

1. This Circular comes into force from February 22, 2021 and replaces following Circulars:

a) Circular No. 56/2014/TT-BCT ;

b) Circular No. 51/2015/TT-BCT dated December 29, 2015 of Minister of Industry and Trade on amendments to Circular No. 30/2014/TT-BCT dated October 2, 2014 of Minister of Industry and Trade on operation of competitive electricity generation market and Circular No. 56/2014/TT-BCT ;

2. Annuls Article 1 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BCT dated August 3, 2017 of Minister of Industry and Trade on amendments of Circular No. 56/2014/TT-BCT ; Circular No. 30/2014/TT-BCT on operation of competitive electricity generation market and Circular No. 57/2014/TT-BCT on methods and procedures for developing and issuing price range for electricity generation;

3. Annuls Article 134 and Annex 5 of Circular No. 45/2018/TT-BCT dated November 15, 2018 of Minister of Industry and Trade on operation of competitive electricity generation market and amendments to Circular No. 56/2014/TT-BCT ;

4. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry for consideration./.