Despite the Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring clean and affordable energy for all, research on electricity affordability remains limited. This study employs a stochastic payment card method to elicit perceptions of reasonable electricity bills in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A “reasonable” bill is generally considered affordable for consumers and sufficient to cover provision costs. Our findings support this definition, revealing that respondents view reasonable bills as affordable for all, including their households, sufficient to recover provision costs, and accessible to the poor.

The engagement of households as investors in residential solar power distinctively contributes to decarbonizing electricity industry and achieving net-zero emission targets. However, the rapid expansion of rooftop solar power, followed by the phase-out of feed-in tariff, has stagnated investment in residential solar power technology.

The gas extractive industry is an important sector for the country which can generate income for supporting development initiatives of a country, if utilised efficiently and effectively. Ensuring that host communities benefit from gas exploration and extraction activities does not only necessitate the existence of a regulatory framework, but also effective enforcement in the implementation processes and practices. Undoubtedly, effective implementation of the regulatory framework relies on the existence of good governance principles.