Billing tenants for electricity in Vietnam: quotas, leases under 12 months, fines

Electricity is the line on the monthly bill that tenants query most often. In 2026 the authorities also began checking it more closely. This article summarizes how to bill correctly and what owners of mini apartment buildings and monthly rental houses need to put in order.

General principle

Tenants who use electricity for daily living are charged the residential retail tariff, just like a household buying electricity directly. The landlord is the party named on the electricity supply contract, but may not resell at a higher price.

There are two cases:

Case	How it is billed
Lease of 12 months or more, tenants have registered residence, landlord has declared all occupants	By quota: 4 people count as one household, fewer people are converted pro rata
Lease under 12 months, or landlord has not declared all the people using the electricity	All consumption at the tier 3 rate of the residential tariff

When the number of occupants changes, the landlord must notify the electricity seller so the quota can be adjusted.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed revising the residential tariff (reducing it from 6 tiers to 5). For that reason this article gives no specific figures. Landlords should take the tier 3 rate on their most recent electricity bill as the reference and update it when the tariff changes.

Shared costs: separate and at actual cost

Corridor lighting, water pumps and line losses may not be added to the electricity unit price of each room. These items may only be charged at actual cost, and must appear as a separate item in the lease.

Fines

Decree 133/2026/NĐ-CP provides that:

• A landlord who buys electricity at the residential tariff and charges tenants more than permitted can be fined 20 - 30 million VND.
• The landlord must refund the entire overcharge to the tenants.

Overcharging is usually not deliberate, but the result of rounding to one convenient unit price, for example “4,000 VND per kWh for every room”.

What landlords should do

1. Review the lease: term, number of occupants, electricity unit price, and shared costs listed separately.
2. Declare all the people using the electricity to the electricity seller so the quota applies, if the lease is 12 months or longer.
3. Meter each unit and each room separately. Without separate readings you cannot show that you bill correctly.
4. Keep the reading history. When a tenant queries a bill or during an inspection, a daily reading history is the clearest evidence.
5. Update unit prices by effective date whenever the tariff changes, and do not apply the new price to electricity used before that date.

What TingStay covers

TingStay does not set electricity prices. The unit price, calculation method and bill template are set by the landlord according to the rules and the lease.

What TingStay does:

• Reads each unit’s power meter through the TingEdge (the meter needs an RS485 port) and stores a daily history.
• Power and water unit prices carry an effective date: a price change applies only from the date it takes effect.
• Bills show the opening and closing readings, the unit price and shared costs as separate items, with a QR code for bank transfer.
• If a meter gives no reading, the system flags it for manual entry and does not guess.

Further reading: Meter readings for rental units: by hand or automatic.