The State Council recently issued the "Package of Policy Measures to Stabilize the Economy" (hereinafter referred to as the "Policy Measures"), which launched 33 policy measures in six areas, including finance, monetary finance, stabilizing investment and promoting consumption, ensuring food and energy security, ensuring the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and ensuring basic people's livelihood. Among them, small and micro enterprises, individual industrial and commercial households and other general industrial and commercial users are the key support targets mentioned in the "Policy Measures". The "Policy to Ensure the Stability of the Industrial Chain and Supply Chain" clearly states that the costs of water, electricity and network usage by market entities should be reduced.
The reporter noticed that unlike the 10% direct reduction in electricity prices for general industrial and commercial users in previous years, the "Policy Measures" clearly support them through policies such as taxes and subsidies. Industry insiders believe that there is more room for tapping the potential of electricity costs. Examining the shortcomings of the existing energy supply chain and improving the system and mechanism is the strategy to reduce costs.
Market-oriented users are generally under pressure
According to my country's current electricity price system, electricity consumption is roughly divided into four categories: agricultural electricity consumption, residential electricity consumption, general industrial and commercial electricity consumption, and industrial electricity consumption, and separate pricing is implemented. Among them, the first two categories have not yet participated in the electricity market, low-priced power sources are given priority, and electricity prices are relatively stable; the latter two categories are the "main force" in the electricity market, and the fluctuation of electricity prices is not more than 20% in principle, and the market transaction electricity prices of high-energy-consuming enterprises are not subject to the 20% increase limit.
Since the fourth quarter of last year, affected by factors such as high coal prices and the epidemic, market-based electricity prices have all risen to a certain extent, and market-based users are generally under pressure. Jiang Jiang, general manager of Qiushi Energy Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., told reporters that compared with previous years, this year's wholesale and retail prices in the electricity market have risen significantly. "The current benchmark electricity price mechanism for coal-fired power generation is 'benchmark price + up and down floating', and the benchmark electricity price of coal-fired power companies in various provinces is 0.3 yuan/kWh-0.45 yuan/kWh. In previous years, it has been floating down, and this year it has risen by nearly 0.1 yuan/kWh. For companies with larger electricity consumption, the cost of electricity has increased a lot."
In addition to the above-mentioned impacts, cross-subsidy of electricity prices is also one of the "main forces" that put pressure on market users. From the perspective of user categories, cross-subsidy means that industrial and commercial users subsidize residential and agricultural users to enjoy low electricity prices by bearing high electricity prices, but the former has low power supply costs, while the latter has high power supply costs, and resource mismatch distorts the electricity price structure. Among the major countries in the world, there are only a handful of countries where residential electricity prices are lower than industrial electricity prices.
Professor Ye Ze of Changsha University of Science and Technology pointed out that the current problem of cross-subsidy of electricity prices in my country needs to be taken seriously, especially the subsidies from industrial and commercial users to residents. "According to calculations, from 2011 to 2015, the total amount of cross-subsidies enjoyed by Chinese residents was about 151.743 billion yuan to 207.211 billion yuan, with a subsidy level of 32.69%-33.32%, accounting for 5.27%-5.49% of the national electricity bill. Not only that, the cross-subsidies enjoyed by residents are also lacking in specificity. Real high-income users consume a lot of electricity and are the main recipients of subsidies at the same subsidy level, about 131.707 billion yuan in 2015, while low-income people only received 58.362 billion yuan."
The electricity price mechanism needs to be improved
The "Policy Measures" pointed out that the policy of "no interruption of water, electricity and gas for arrears" should be fully implemented for small and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households that are temporarily experiencing production and operation difficulties due to the epidemic, and a 6-month fee deferral period should be established, which can be further extended according to local conditions. No arrears and late payment fees will be charged during the deferral period. Local governments should be guided to subsidize water, electricity, gas and other fees for small, medium and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households. Clean up and standardize the charges for urban water supply, electricity supply, gas supply, heating and other industries, cancel unreasonable charges, standardize government pricing and operator price charging behavior, and implement list management for the retained charging items.
In Jiang Jiang's view, price is the "bull nose" to improve the efficiency of resource allocation, and the role of price leverage can optimize the allocation of resource elements. From the perspective of the electricity price mechanism, the current general industrial and commercial electricity prices are basically formed by the market, coming from the market and returning to the market. The construction and improvement of the electricity market is the fundamental solution. "For example, by encouraging adjustable resources on the user side to participate in demand response, users can not only get 'red envelopes' to reduce pressure, but the improvement of adjustment capabilities will also help reduce the overall cost of the power system."
A power industry policy researcher told reporters: "The adjustment of the electricity price mechanism needs to focus on how to gradually reduce cross-subsidies. The reduction of industrial and commercial electricity prices and the increase in the proportion of residential electricity consumption are not conducive to reducing cross-subsidies. In addition, some residential users have access to large-scale electricity-consuming equipment such as electric vehicles and electric heating. It is necessary to consider further optimizing residential electricity prices, such as increasing the price difference between the first-tier electricity price and the second and third-tier electricity prices in cities."
Zhou Zhenyu, a fourth-level researcher at the Price Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, told reporters that the annual bilateral trading contracts for a large number of users have been signed, and the electricity prices for 90% of the users' electricity consumption have also been finalized, but this does not mean that there is nothing to do. "For example, a unified tiered electricity price system for high-energy-consuming industries should be formulated as soon as possible, and tiered electricity charges for high-energy-consuming industries should be levied, which will be used specifically to reduce electricity prices for small and medium-sized enterprises. At the same time, the profit and loss sharing mechanism of the electricity market and the electricity purchase right mechanism of electricity users should be reformed to further improve market fairness."
Potential risks cannot be ignored
It is of great significance to improve the electricity market and electricity price mechanism, but potential risks should also be taken seriously.
"With the accelerated advancement of market construction and the substantial opening of the market scale, there are many illegal and irregular phenomena in the electricity retail market. Many market players take advantage of the weakness of users' insufficient understanding of the electricity market, and violate regulations and deceive users in the signing of retail contracts and transaction settlement, which affects the interests of electricity users and hinders the construction of the electricity market. Supervision in this regard needs to be focused on and improved." Jiang Jiang pointed out.
Zhou Zhenyu agreed with this: "We must strictly implement the power market information disclosure system, truthfully disclose market transaction electricity prices to users, and avoid the retail market from taking advantage of market information asymmetry to seek improper benefits. We must examine the shortcomings of the existing energy supply chain from the "Policy Measures" and truly improve it from the institutional and mechanism level."
The above-mentioned policy researchers also pointed out that there are still some unreasonable administrative interventions in the power wholesale market, which is inconsistent with the "Notice on Further Deepening the Market-oriented Reform of Coal-fired Power Generation On-Grid Electricity Prices" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission last year, which requires "avoiding unreasonable administrative intervention." "These factors increase the cost of market transactions and even induce the formation of some market risks. While strengthening supervision, it is necessary to further open up the power market, introduce more trading market players, strengthen market liquidity, organize longer-cycle market transactions, make resource allocation more efficient, and make market competition more sufficient, and ultimately achieve lower user electricity prices under the premise of reliable supply."
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