From May 25, motel owners who collect electricity bills incorrectly can be fined up to 30 million VND

This is the content of Decree 133 regulating penalties for administrative violations in the electricity sector, newly issued and effective from May 25. Currently, boarding house owners collecting electricity fees higher than the prescribed level are still handled according to Decree 134/2013 (amended by Decree 17/2022). However, the fine is only 7-10 million VND, which many experts believe is not enough of a deterrent, so the situation of landlords arbitrarily raising electricity prices to 4,000-5,000 VND per kWh is still common.

Mr. Bui Trung Kien, Deputy General Director of Ho Chi Minh City Electricity Corporation, said that in recent times the unit has increased propaganda and encouraged innkeepers to charge the right price. However, in reality, there is still a situation where the collection is higher than the regulations due to not clearly understanding the price calculation mechanism or intentionally collecting incorrectly.

In some cases, landlords also include costs such as internet, cable TV, water, cleaning, etc. into electricity bills, causing the monthly costs tenants have to pay to increase and lack transparency.

According to regulations, the way to calculate electricity bills for boarding houses depends on the rental term and the declaration of the number of people using electricity. With a contract of 12 months or more and with temporary residence registration, the lessee or representative can sign an electricity purchase contract directly with the electricity industry.

On the contrary, if the rental period is less than 12 months and the landlord does not fully declare the number of users, the entire electricity output will be calculated according to level 3 of the living price schedule (101-200 kWh), equivalent to 2,380 VND per kWh (excluding VAT).

In case of full declaration, the norm is calculated according to the number of temporary residents, every 4 people is equivalent to one household using electricity, each person is calculated 1/4 of the norm. When the number of tenants changes, the landlord must notify them to make adjustments.

In addition to the act of collecting electricity bills at incorrect prices, the decree also stipulates many other penalties in the electricity sector. In particular, declaring the wrong number of people to enjoy the quota will be fined 3-5 million VND, arbitrarily installing or tampering with the electrical system will be fined 5-8 million VND, and serious violations can be up to 60-80 million VND.

Electricity industry representatives said monitoring is currently mainly based on consumption data collected remotely and by contract, while it is impossible to directly check each room. Therefore, detecting violations depends heavily on tenants’ feedback and coordination of physical inspections by local authorities. Agencies at the facility coordinate with the electricity industry to strengthen the review and comparison of invoices and receive feedback from tenants to promptly handle and ensure the correct collection of the prescribed price.