Electricity in Hanoi rentals: EVN rates vs landlord markups

Electricity is the most common place expats quietly overpay in Hanoi. The state utility (EVN) charges a tiered rate that rises with usage. Some landlords pass that through honestly. Others charge a flat, higher per-unit rate and keep the difference.

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How the state price works

Homes in Vietnam buy electricity from EVN, the state utility, at a retail price the government sets. For households the price is stepped: each month the first units are the cheapest, and every further block of units costs more than the one before. A household that uses a lot of power, which in a Hanoi summer usually means air-conditioning, pays more for each extra unit as well as for more units.

EVN publishes the current price table on its website, and the steps and the prices change from time to time, so check the table in force when you sign rather than a figure you read somewhere else, this guide included.

How to check what you are paying

Ask for the per-kWh rate in writing before you sign, and ask to see a recent EVN bill for the unit. If the landlord quotes a single flat rate well above the state tiers, you are likely paying a markup.

• Get the ₫/kWh rate in the contract, not verbally
• Photograph the meter on move-in day
• Compare your rate against the current EVN tiers
• Read the meter yourself each month for the first few months

Reading an EVN bill

If the meter is registered with EVN in the landlord’s name, ask to see a recent bill for the home. It shows the meter readings, the units used in the month, and the units charged at each step of the price. Compare that with what the landlord proposes to charge you: the same units, at the same steps, should cost you about the same.

What is fair

A small administrative margin is normal. A flat rate well above the state tiers on every unit is not, and over a hot Hanoi summer it adds up to real money. Serviced apartments usually bundle electricity into the rent, which removes the issue entirely but costs more up front.

Keeping the bill down

Air-conditioning and hot water are most of a Hanoi electricity bill. A few habits make a real difference:

• Set the air-conditioning a few degrees warmer, and close the doors and windows of the room you are cooling
• Ask whether the air-conditioners are inverter models, which use less power at the same setting
• Switch the water heater off at the wall once the water is hot, as most Hanoi households do
• Clean the air-conditioner filters, or ask the landlord to have the units serviced before summer

What bills cost on top of the rent shows the price per unit that landlords have written down on the homes Nest lists today, by home size and district, so you can see what other renters are being asked to pay.

How Nest handles it

We confirm the electricity basis on every listing and flag when a unit is billed at the state rate. If a landlord insists on an opaque flat rate, we tell you before you commit.