Access-to-power index of Viet Nam in 2018 gets outstandingly higher ranking

On October 31st 2018, the Doing Business research team of World Bank (WB) published a Doing Business report 2019 which assesses competitiveness indexes in 2018 of 190 countries/economies in the world, including assessment results of the ACCESS-TO-POWER INDEX.

According to the assessment, Viet Nam’s Access-to-power Index went up outstandingly in 2018, achieved the highest level ever, reaching 87.94 points - ranking 27/190 countries/economies – climbing 37 places compared to its ranking in 2017. The Access-to-power Index measured by Doing Business is based on the following criteria: Procedures, time and expenses for connecting to power grid, power supply reliability and electricity price transparency.

This is the fifth year in a row that Viet Nam’s Access-to-power Index has improved its ranking and Viet Nam is the economy with the the most improved index in the region. Viet Nam has surpassed the Philippines and is currently ranks 4^th in ASEAN region which means in ASEAN-4 group. With continuous renovation, reform and synchronous combination of many solutions regarding Power Access, Viet Nam has gradually made significant progress in its ranking year after year from 2013 to 2018 with the result of rising up 129 levels from 156 (2013) to 27 (2018).

2018 Access-to-power Index climbing up 37 places is the most improved index among the 10 indexes of the economy according to Doing Business, which contributes to maintaining a positive assessment of business environment in Viet Nam. In terms of the number of procedures and implementation time of Electricity Sector, Viet Nam ranks the second in ASEAN.

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When comparing Viet Nam with the countries signing the Comprehensive Partnership and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), that Viet Nam is joining soon, Viet Nam’s access-to-power index is in top 4 among CPTPP countries (for more details, please view information BOX).

If we compare Viet Nam with some developed countries, it can be seen that Viet Nam’s access-to-power index has been on a par with some developed ones, more specifically: Viet Nam’s procedures are equivalent to those countries, implementation time reduced much to 31 days (it was 46 days in 2017) - less than half of the average time of Asia-Pacific countries (65 days) or OECD countries (71.2 days). Viet Nam’s power supply reliability and transparency factor have reached seven out of 8 points, increasing one point since 2017, equivalent to other developed economies such as Singapore, Switzerland and Denmark and higher than some big countries such as China, India, Brazil, etc. In addition, Doing Business report showed that Viet Nam continued to improve significantly in 2018 with EVN’s reform in providing high quality online electricity services.

The ranking of the Access-to-power Index in 2018 (27/190) as well as duration of access-to-power (31 days) has placed Viet Nam into ASEAN-4 group, reaching the target until 2020 of the Government.

In order to contribute to the outstanding results in improving power supply procedures, power supply reliability and electricity price transparency as assessed by Doing Business, over the past time, EVN has been non-stop drastically implemented a whole series of customer service solutions: all the power supply services of EVN have been able to make online registration equivalent to public service level 3; Information on regulations is posted publicly on the websites related to customer service, chat online via hotline 24/7 of EVN’s customer service centers nationwide; payment of electricity bills in various forms makes it convenient for customers. In addition, in 2018, the Electricity Sector has pro-actively reported to, worked with the People’s Committees of the provinces/centrally-run cities to bring electricity services to the public administrative centers of the localities (15 provinces/cities) or interconnected to put electricity services on websites for providing online public services of the localities (42 provinces/cities), have brought electricity services closer to businesses and people, at the same time, enhanced transparency in providing electricity services, etc.

Besides shortening the time, simplifying documents, enhancing transparency and sharing publicly electricity services to customers, EVN has focused on applying technology to improve the quality of power supply. This is an important factor helping to significantly improve access-to-power index in the last two years.

Continuously gaining outstanding rankings of Access-to-power Index as shown in the Doing Business’s Annual Report affirms positive results for restless efforts by EVN in providing its customers with high quality power and better services.

Access-to-power Index of countries participating in CPTPP agreement

No.	Country/Economy	Ranking 2019	Number of Procedures	Time (days)	Power supply reliability and electricity price transparency (0-8)
1	Malaysia	4	3	24	8
2	Singapore	16	4	30	7
3	Japan	22	3.4	97.7	8
4	Viet Nam	27	4	31	7
5	Brunei	31	5	35	7
6	Chile	36	5	43	7
7	New Zealand	45	5	58	7
8	Australia	52	5	75	7
9	Peru	67	5	67	6
10	Mexico	99	6.8	100.4	7
11	Canada	121	7	137	6
Average CPTPP			4.83	63.46	7.00