Electricity Law No. 61/2024/QH15 (Consolidated Text): Power Planning, Investment, and Electricity Market
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Based on:61/2024/QH15 - Government Official Gazette
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Electricity Law No. 61/2024/QH15 was passed by the National Assembly on November 30, 2024 and took effect February 1, 2025, replacing the prior electricity legal framework in full. This consolidated text folds in amendments from three later laws: the Atomic Energy Law No. 94/2025/QH15 (effective January 1, 2026), the Cybersecurity Law No. 116/2025/QH15, and the Construction Law No. 135/2025/QH15 (both effective July 1, 2026). The Law comprehensively governs power development planning, investment in power projects, development of renewable and new energy (including offshore wind), electricity operation licensing, and the operation of the competitive electricity market. For businesses, the law carries three main impacts. First, any organization engaged in power generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale, or retail electricity sales must hold an electricity operation license (Chapter IV), with licensing authority split between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and provincial People's Committees depending on project scale. Second, domestic and foreign investors in power projects, particularly offshore wind and PPP projects, must follow distinct investor-selection and bidding procedures set out in Chapters II and III. Third, the state's electricity pricing policy (Article 5) aims to gradually eliminate cross-subsidization between customer groups, which could affect business electricity costs over the medium term. The scraped source material (from the Official Gazette) covers only through Chapter V (Competitive Electricity Market, Article 38) and cuts off mid-article due to the length of the original document; later chapters on pricing, electrical safety, and violation handling were not fully captured in this record.
Electricity Law No. 61/2024/QH15 (Consolidated Text)
Reference: No. 61/2024/QH15, enacted November 30, 2024, effective February 1, 2025.
Consolidated with amendments from: Atomic Energy Law No. 94/2025/QH15 (effective January 1, 2026); Cybersecurity Law No. 116/2025/QH15 (effective July 1, 2026); Construction Law No. 135/2025/QH15 (effective July 1, 2026).
Chapter I - General Provisions
- Scope and applicability: governs power development planning, investment in power projects, development of renewable/new energy, electricity operation licensing, the competitive electricity market, national power system dispatch, protection of electrical works, and electrical safety.
- Definitions (Article 4): defines over 50 technical terms, including wholesale/retail electricity sales, average retail electricity price, generation price bracket, spot/forward electricity markets, forward/option/futures electricity contracts, self-generation-and-consumption electricity, and new-energy electricity (green hydrogen, green ammonia).
- State policy (Article 5): the State holds a monopoly over national power system dispatch, investment in nuclear power plants, and critical transmission grids of 220kV and above; encourages all economic sectors to invest in generation and grid infrastructure; sets a roadmap to gradually phase out electricity price cross-subsidization; prioritizes gas power, renewable power, and nuclear power development on a phased timeline.
- Prohibited acts (Article 9): unlicensed electricity operations, electricity theft, sabotage of electrical works, violations of safety corridors, and harassment or extortion connected with electricity operations and use.
Chapter II - Planning and Investment in Power Projects
- Power development planning is a national sectoral plan; the power supply network development plan is integrated into provincial master plans (Articles 10-11).
- Authority to approve investment policy for power projects is split by voltage level and project type: interprovincial grid projects are decided by the provincial People's Committee where the line originates, after consulting the other provinces involved; medium/low-voltage grid projects follow a list approved by the provincial People's Committee (Article 13).
- Special mechanisms apply to emergency power projects and works (natural disasters, unexpected capacity shortfalls, grid overload relief): exemption from the standard investment-policy approval procedure, eligibility for government guarantees, and exemption from project-implementation security requirements (Articles 14-15).
- Investors for power business projects are selected via bidding or other methods under the Investment Law (Articles 18-19).
Chapter III - Development of Renewable and New Energy
- General principles encourage self-generation-and-consumption from renewable/new energy sources, investment incentives, and baseline surveys of renewable resources (Articles 20-22).
- Separate rules cover new-energy electricity (green hydrogen, green ammonia) and the renovation/decommissioning of renewable energy facilities at end of term (Articles 23-25).
- A dedicated section addresses offshore wind power: surveying, investment-policy approval, and investor selection under a bespoke bidding mechanism (Articles 26-29) - this project category receives significant incentives and breakthrough mechanisms per the Article 5 policy.
Chapter IV - Electricity Operation Licensing
- Principles, conditions, and the circumstances for issuing new licenses and for amending, reissuing, renewing, or revoking them (Articles 30-36).
- Licensing authority: the Ministry of Industry and Trade licenses most generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale, and retail activities; provincial People's Committees license activities within their locality per Government regulations (Article 37).
Chapter V - Competitive Electricity Market (source content cuts off)
- Operating principles: openness, transparency, equality, and non-discrimination among electricity market participants (Article 38; the source text stops mid-clause 2).
Note: the extract from the Official Gazette is length-limited and cuts off partway through Article 38; subsequent chapters on electricity pricing, electrical safety, inspection, and violation handling (if present in the consolidated text) are not included in this summary.