Recalling the price of power-supply and resuming the contradiction between coal and electricity should also break the monopoly of the industry

Power supply is tight and power companies should make more money. However, the China Electricity Council (hereinafter referred to as "CEC") predicts that the nation's largest power shortage this winter and next spring will be around 40 million kilowatts, and the five major power companies will collectively "scream", thus raising the call for electricity prices again. The pricing power is a double-edged sword. Because it is difficult to reflect the laws of the market and damage the market, the other side has also become a hot potato in the hands of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Recently, it was learned from the relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission that power companies have frequently submitted letters to the National Development and Reform Commission to request an increase in electricity prices to alleviate the huge loss of thermal power. However, the current economic situation in China has caused the NDRC’s attitude to fluctuate, and whether there is an internal adjustment to the electricity price. Differences have caused delays in determining the price adjustment plan.

And just as the National Development and Reform Commission worried that the price of electricity will raise the price of coal, the new coal price negotiations have already begun to warm up, and the coal that has been suppressed for a year has begun to brewing and then adjust the contract price of coal.

Electricity price adjustments

In the past few years, the power companies have never stopped calling for price increases, and the market continues to raise the news that the government will raise the price of electricity.

The news of the increase in electricity prices is not groundless. On October 20, the spokesperson of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission stated publicly that it is necessary to increase the on-grid tariff of coal-fired power plants in a timely manner, reduce the losses of power plants, and increase the enthusiasm for power generation.

According to a person in charge of the Huadian Group, the person in charge introduced to the media that for the country’s huge losses in thermal power and the continued spread of power shortages, both the Electricity Regulatory Commission and the China Electric Power Association believe that only the increase in the on-grid price of thermal power plants can ease the thermal power losses and power shortages. However, the price adjustment power pricing power in the hands of the National Development and Reform Commission, still need the National Development and Reform Commission introduced the price increase plan and approved the approval of the State Council can be formally implemented.

The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission told reporters that power companies have frequently submitted letters to the National Development and Reform Commission, requesting that the price of electricity be raised to alleviate the huge loss of thermal power. However, the current economic situation in China has caused the NDRC’s attitude to fluctuate, and there are internal differences as to whether the price of electricity is raised. It is difficult to determine the price adjustment plan.

“The NDRC part of the view is that the increase in electricity prices will help ease the loss of thermal power and power shortages, but another part of the view is that in the current economic situation, it is not appropriate to increase the price, but should encourage power companies to improve their profitability. Fine-tuning electricity prices to thermal power The mitigation effect of enterprises is limited, and they cannot solve the fundamental problems. Ultimately, they will only lead to a rise in the price of coal and electricity. The rising coal price will soon eat up the fine-tuned electricity prices,” said the above sources.

The loss of thermal power caused a discontinued production

CEC predicts that the biggest power gap in the country this winter and next spring will be between 30 million and 40 million kilowatts, which is more intense than in the first three quarters of 2011. Except for the northwest and northeast power grids, the supply and demand situation in other regions continues to be tense. At the beginning of this year, there were 20 power grids in the provincial power grids in China. The power gap was as high as 30 million kilowatts. This kind of power shortage continued into the summer and worsened into the winter.

Hu Zhaoguang, vice president of the State Grid Energy Research Institute, believes that this year's power shortages are mainly due to mechanical and regional power shortages: Rapid increase in coal prices has resulted in insufficient power plant output. Inadequate grid cross-regional transmission capacity has made it difficult for inter-regional adjustments. .

The person in charge of the Henan Yifen Power Plant told the reporter that in recent years, the domestic installed capacity has skyrocketed and should not be short of electricity, but now there are frequent power cuts in many provinces. This is not because domestic power generation capacity is not enough, but it occupies power supply. The main share of coal-fired power companies due to excessively high coal prices and fine-tuning of electricity prices, have fallen into deep losses under cost pressures, and have no electricity.

The latest report of the CEC pointed out that during the five-year period of the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan”, the nation’s total installed power generation capacity increased by 450 million kilowatts, setting a new record for world power construction. At the same time, the CEC statistics on the operation of the five major power generation groups from January to July this year showed that the five major groups had a total loss of 7.46 billion yuan.

However, the person in charge of a coal company in Inner Mongolia believes that the current high coal prices are largely due to the high transportation costs due to high oil prices. The coal price itself has not risen too much due to the power coal agreement.

Coal and Electricity contradiction seeks to eradicate

The situation of tight supply of electricity due to rising coal prices has continued for many years. Coal-fired electricity linkage has always been considered as a key measure to solve the contradiction between coal and electricity and is expected to be high. However, in recent years, coal-electricity linkage has not been effectively implemented. Therefore, some people in the industry believe that in the event that coal-fired electricity linkage cannot be implemented within a short period of time, the increase in electricity prices has become a temporary means for power generation companies to look forward to turning losses. However, experts have stated that neither the coal-fired coal operation nor the tariff increase can fundamentally solve the contradiction between coal and electricity, and it is fundamental to break the monopoly of the power industry.

Li Chaolin, an expert in China's coal marketing, believes that the power industry is now monopolized and lacks competition, and power companies are eating "big pots." This creates the same mentality of not generating electricity. Even in the case of tight electricity supply, power generation companies can still not generate electricity on the basis of losses.

To break the industry’s monopoly, Shi Wei, the director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission, believes that various aspects should be taken. First, the central government’s monopoly in power generation and petroleum should be abolished, and full competition should be allowed to establish an effective supervision system. Secondly, the central government should no longer directly invest in central enterprises in any name. The development of the central enterprises depends on their own operations. The central and private enterprises enjoy the same national treatment in China, and the profit of the central enterprises cannot be returned. Again, the leaders of the central enterprises should be shareholders. It is determined by investors and not appointed by the SASAC of the State Council; the most important point is to allow non-State-owned capital to enter the core business areas of the central SOEs and truly implement the “36” of the private economy into the monopoly industries.