Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has taken the state electricity monopoly to task for abuse of power and excessive bureaucracy while accusing it of overcharging, the newspaper Dau Tu (Investment) reported Thursday.
In a blunt assessment, he ordered Electricity of Vietnam to help cut waste that is driving up costs and could spark public discontent. EVN must work out corrective measures based on his instructions, and individual leaders have to do self-criticisms.
Khai said the utility has plenty of problems, particularly in the tender process and project accounting, that have led to complaints and affect Vietnam's reputation with foreign investors.
In March, former President Le Duc Anh, in an article for the Army newspaper, criticized irregularities in the bidding process for the country's largest thermal electric plant.
Local media have reported that the company has overblown the costs for construction and repair work on a number of projects to justify overcharging for electricity.
Vietnam is chronically short of power, and several projects to raise its output are bogged down in bureaucracy.
EVN imposed rotating power cuts earlier this year as the worst drought in a century dropped water levels to critical levels at the reservoirs that feed key hydroelectric plants.