Relieve the tension between supply and demand and clarify the relationship between "coal power"——
Is there any new changes in the "full moon" of electricity price reform?
Not long ago, the domestic coal and electricity supply and demand continued to be tight, and "limited power and limited production" appeared in some regions.
In order to ease the tension between coal power supply and demand, on October 12, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Notice on Further Deepening the Market-oriented Reform of Coal-fired Power Generation Feed-in Tariffs" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which is a big step forward in electricity price reform.
At present, it has been one month since the "Notice" was issued. What are the new changes in electricity prices in various regions?
Is the tight power supply effectively alleviated?
Our reporter conducted an interview.
How to reform?
-Orderly liberalize the on-grid tariffs for all coal-fired power generation, and the power prices for industrial and commercial users in an orderly manner
"Market coal, planned power" has plagued the coal power industry for a long time, especially when coal prices have risen significantly, the contradiction becomes more prominent.
In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Coal-fired Power Generation On-grid Tariff Mechanism", which changed the coal-fired power generation benchmark on-grid tariff mechanism that has been implemented for many years to a market-based electricity pricing mechanism of "base price + up and down". Coal power generation participates in power market transactions and forms prices from the market.
"The implementation of the market-based electricity price mechanism of'base price + fluctuations' has strongly promoted the process of electricity marketization. In 2020, more than 70% of coal-fired power generation will form an on-grid electricity price through market transactions." said Wan Jinsong, Director of the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission .
However, with the emergence of new changes in the global energy industry, domestic coal and electricity supply and demand have fluctuated since the beginning of this year.
According to the energy production situation in September released by the National Bureau of Statistics, on September 24, the comprehensive transaction prices of 5,500, 5,000, and 4,500 calories of thermal coal at Qinhuangdao Port were 1079 yuan, 980 yuan, and 857 yuan per ton, respectively, compared with 8. On the 27th, they rose by 194 yuan, 182 yuan and 151 yuan respectively.
As coal prices rise, coal-fired costs for power generation companies have risen accordingly, and power supply is in a state of tension.
In this context, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a "Notice", proposing to further deepen the reform of coal-fired power generation on-grid tariffs and establish a market-based electricity tariff mechanism that "can rise but fall".
What is the focus of this round of market-oriented reform of coal-fired power generation on-grid tariffs?
Wan Jinsong said that the focus of this reform is on two "orderly liberalization."
On the power generation side, the on-grid tariff for all coal-fired power generation will be liberalized in an orderly manner.
"This reform clearly promotes the remaining 30% of coal-fired power generation to enter the power market, and will further drive other types of power generation power to enter the market, laying a solid foundation for the full development of power-side feed-in tariffs." On the power consumption side, there is Orderly liberalize electricity prices for industrial and commercial users.
Prior to this, approximately 44% of industrial and commercial electricity consumption has formed electricity prices through participation in the market.
The reform clearly proposes to promote the orderly promotion of industrial and commercial users to enter the electricity market, purchase electricity at market prices, and abolish the price of electricity sold in the industrial and commercial catalogue.
Among the industrial and commercial users who have not yet entered the market, the industrial and commercial users of 10 kV and above consume large amounts of electricity and have good market conditions, and all enter the market; other industrial and commercial users should also enter the market as soon as possible.
At that time, only the residential and agricultural categories will remain in the catalog sales price, which will basically achieve "full release".
In terms of transaction prices, it has taken a big step. The fluctuation range of coal-fired power generation market transaction prices has been expanded from the current "float not exceeding 10%, and falling not more than 15% in principle" to "floating up and down not exceeding 20% in principle. %".
How effective is it?
——Floating on-grid tariffs for coal-fired power generation in most provinces, alleviating the operating pressure of power generation companies, and guiding power users to transform into low carbon
The "Notice" was issued for one month. How effective is the electricity price reform in various regions?
The reporter learned that at present, more than 20 provinces have adjusted the local coal-fired power generation feed-in tariff market mechanism in accordance with the requirements of the "Notice", and some regions have organized and carried out this round of electricity trading after the electricity price reform.
Only three days after the start of the reform, Shandong Province completed the first transaction after the market-oriented reform of coal-fired power generation on-grid electricity prices on October 15.
Jiangsu Province also completed the first listing transaction on October 15 and organized the second power transaction on October 25, reaching 10.869 billion kilowatt-hours of transaction electricity, and the transaction price reached the upper limit of 20% of the benchmark electricity price.
The reporter combed and found that most of the provinces that have adjusted electricity prices have moved upwards.
According to the announcement of State Grid Anhui Electric Power Co., Ltd.’s agency power purchase listing transaction results in November 2021, the company’s agency power purchase transaction has a total electricity volume of 2,127,465 MWh, and a transaction price of 461.28 yuan/MWh, based on the coal-fired benchmark in Anhui Province. Calculated at a price of 384.4 yuan/MWh, the electricity price will rise by 20%.
The rise in on-grid tariffs for coal-fired power generation has mobilized the enthusiasm of power plants.
"Coal prices were relatively high some time ago, and companies are in a state of loss-making power generation. Naturally, the enthusiasm for power generation is not high." The person in charge of a coal-fired power generation company in Shandong Province said that after the reform of the on-grid electricity price for coal-fired power generation, the transaction price of local coal-fired power generation electricity Compared with the past, it has risen slightly, which can effectively alleviate the operating pressure of power generation enterprises.
So, as a buyer, how do electricity users view this electricity price reform?
Most electricity users expressed their willingness to bear the corresponding costs.
Mr. Zhou, the person in charge of an electronic product manufacturing company in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, told reporters that the previous electricity and production restrictions delayed the delivery of orders and caused great losses.
"This reform has increased the on-grid electricity price for coal-fired power generation and increased the production cost of enterprises to a certain extent. However, we pay more attention to fulfilling orders on schedule, and it is acceptable to increase the electricity bill."
Increasing the on-grid tariff for coal-fired power generation also releases a signal of off-peak electricity consumption.
Lin Nan, a budget member of a Shanghai engineering contracting company, told reporters that the fluctuation of electricity prices has not been clearly felt, and the power supply is also in a relatively stable state.
"Shanghai adopts a peak-to-valley electricity price mechanism. In the case of electricity price reform, due to construction cost considerations, in the future, in the early stage of the project and the construction period is not too tight, we will consider avoiding peak electricity consumption and choosing night construction methods to reduce Electricity cost."
The reporter noted that the "Notice" proposes to expand the range of fluctuations in coal-fired power market transaction prices, but the market transaction price of energy-intensive companies is not subject to a 20% rise.
"The disorderly development of high-energy-consuming industries will increase the pressure to ensure power supply, which is not conducive to the development of green and low-carbon transformation." Wan Jinsong said that such a provision will help guide high-energy-consuming enterprises to increase market transaction electricity prices, which can more fully To conduct upward pressure on power generation costs, curb unreasonable power consumption, and improve power supply and demand.
At the same time, it is conducive to promoting high energy-consuming enterprises to increase investment in technological transformation, improve energy efficiency, and promote the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure.
What's the point?
——In the short term, ensure the safe and stable supply of power; in the long term, it will promote the high-quality development of the power industry
Electricity price reform is an important step to alleviate the current tight supply and demand of coal and electricity.
While promoting the reform of electricity prices, “combined punches” such as ensuring coal supply and stabilizing coal prices provide a solid guarantee for the safe and stable supply of electricity.
The relevant person in charge of the National Energy Group told reporters that in terms of ensuring supply, the Shendong Coal Shangwan Coal Mine can produce 40,000 tons of coal a day, which can generate about 130 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.
In October, the group's self-produced coal accumulated 50.64 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%.
Guo Zhaosong, director of China Huadian's Production Technology Department, told reporters that up to now, China's Huadian coal power generation has increased by 16.5%, which is higher than the company's total power generation growth and the national power generation growth rate.
According to data released by the National Development and Reform Commission, with the continuous increase in national coal production and the rapid increase in electric coal loading, the coal supply of power plants has continued to exceed coal consumption since November, and the daily inventory has increased by 1.6 million tons.
On November 10, coal supply from power plants nationwide once again exceeded 8 million tons, reaching 8.143 million tons; coal supply exceeded coal consumption by more than 2 million tons, power plants stored coal reached 123 million tons, and the available days exceeded 21 days. Coal for power generation and heating was guaranteed The ability is further improved.
Coal prices are stabilizing.
At a recent meeting held by the China Coal Transportation and Marketing Association, more than 10 major coal companies stated that they took the initiative to reduce the price of 5,500 kcal thermal coal at the main producing area to below 1,000 yuan per ton.
The National Development and Reform Commission disclosed that, from the perspective of market monitoring, since late October, coal prices at pits and ports across the country have dropped significantly.
Various measures were taken to ensure the power supply has achieved initial results.
The relevant person in charge of the State Grid said that the current power supply and demand situation in the operation area of the State Grid has returned to normal, and the supply of electricity and coal has increased significantly.
The inventory of thermal coal in the company's operating area rebounded to 99.32 million tons, and the available days of thermal coal rose to 20 days.
As of November 6, with the exception of individual provinces and local time periods for high energy-consuming and high-polluting enterprises, the orderly power consumption scale of the entire network is close to zero.
In the short term, the electricity price reform, together with other administrative and market measures, provides an effective guarantee for the safe and stable supply of electricity.
In the long run, what are the practical significance of electricity price reform?
According to Wang Kun, head of the coal industry at the Industrial Securities Research Institute of Economics and Finance, China is moving towards carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and electricity prices should also be reflected in the goal of low-carbon transformation.
"With the optimization and upgrading of my country's industrial structure, the new power supply system and the power price system that support it need to be promoted simultaneously."
Wan Jinsong believes that, in the long run, the reform will accelerate the development of medium and long-term power transactions, spot markets and auxiliary service markets, and promote high-quality development of the power industry.
At the same time, this round of power reform will support the construction of a new power system, serve the green and low-carbon transformation of energy, and play an important role in accelerating the reform of power generation and consumption plans and the reform of the power sales side system.
Liao Ruiling