The government has noticed the phenomenon of comprehensive losses in power companies, and we are studying countermeasures, "a person from the National Development and Reform Commission told the First Financial Daily yesterday.
Recently, the Energy Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission urgently convened the Electricity Regulatory Commission, some coal and power enterprises, and related industry associations to discuss the coordination of the current coal electricity conflict, hoping to come up with a good solution that is acceptable to all parties involved.
It is reported that the preliminary proposed solutions include intervening in coal prices, raising grid electricity prices, providing financial subsidies, and implementing the third coal electricity linkage. However, due to intense debates among all parties, no unified opinion has been reached.
The above-mentioned officials from the National Development and Reform Commission revealed that specific policy recommendations for coordinating the shortage of electricity and coal will be submitted to the State Council as early as before May Day.
Since last year, coal prices, especially electricity coal prices, have been soaring, leading to an increase in production costs for downstream thermal power generation enterprises. With the release of performance reports, the fact that the power industry is facing unprecedented industry wide losses has gradually become clear. According to media reports, the five major power groups of Huaneng, Datang, China Power Investment Corporation, Huadian, and Guodian suffered a total loss of 2.7 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year.
At the same time as the price of electric coal rises by 20%, the coal inventory of power companies has greatly decreased. According to the data, as of the end of March, the total coal inventory in society was 144 million tons, a decrease of 5.35 million tons from the beginning of the year. The national electricity supply can only last for 12 days, which is less than half of the normal period, and the peak electricity consumption is approaching day by day.
The third coal electricity linkage should be launched as soon as possible to help power generation companies overcome difficulties and avoid large-scale losses, "said Zhou Dabing, the then general manager of China State Power Group, during this year's National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The reason why the third coal electricity linkage has not been implemented for a long time is mainly due to the current reality of high CPI, "said the official from the National Development and Reform Commission.
