Although the 2013 roadmap for electricity price management has yet to be released, it should be acknowledged that prices will only be on an upward trend next year, the Electricity Group of Vietnam (EVN) said at a media meeting on Monday. Thanks to favorable production conditions, EVN is expected to enjoy profits this year, deputy director Dinh Quang Tri told the meeting, which announced the company’s cost prices of power production in 2012. “EVN will use some VND3.5 to 4 trillion from the profits to make up for the losses in the previous years,” Tri said. The state-run company said it incurred a VND5.29 trillion loss in 2011 alone, as the VND1,226 a kWh power retailing price was lower than the cost price of VND1,282 a kWh. EVN and the Ministry of Industry and Trade both said it remains to be seen how power prices will be adjusted next year. “But there will be only an increasing trend for prices,” the company said.