Coal and electricity companies suffer losses: Experts should conduct electricity marketization as soon as possible

According to Voice of China's "News and Verticals" report, with the arrival of the heating season, a new round of peak electricity consumption is coming. At this time in previous years, power companies have been working overtime to prepare for this peak in electricity use. But this year, coal-fired power companies in Shandong, Anhui, and Henan have begun to reduce their production capacity and have been “power cuts”. What are the special reasons for this?

As winter approaches, the peak of electricity comes along. With more electricity, it is reasonable to say that power companies should be more busy and work overtime to increase production capacity. However, this year, in Shandong, Zibo, Jining and other places, the loss caused power generation companies to have a headache. Yang Ping, director of the political and industrial department of Jining Power Plant, frowned and said:

Now that the factory has lost more than two billion yuan in the first 1-10 months, if the coal continues to rise in November and December, the loss will be even more serious.

Not only in Shandong, but also in Henan and Anhui, the loss of power plants has become an unspoken fact in the industry. A person in charge of the Henan Minquan Power Plant told the reporter that now the factory basically guarantees production:

The environment is all this, anyway, it's not very good, coal and electricity prices are on these two items. The coal price is too high and the electricity price is unreasonable. This piece of raw coal is ** 100 bucks, and if it is equivalent to standard coal, it has already passed a thousand. More, now basically wrapped in this, now the electricity price is unevenly distributed, the benchmark price is not implemented, some discount electricity, ah, unlike Henan Province, other provinces, say how much, is often a little less than the benchmark price Money.

In a situation where the situation is serious, the more power plants generate electricity, the more they lose. In desperation, coal-fired power companies have to start brewing power cuts. Huaneng Yuhuan Power Plant Office Director Zhang:

Many other domestic power plants have been shut down due to a lot of losses.

Once the electricity restriction is intensified, not only the production will be affected, but the lives of the people in some areas will also be affected. Yang Ping told reporters that the stock of coal in the factory is not much now.

The factory inventory is currently close to 100,000 tons, which is enough for our factory to use coal for a week. Under normal circumstances, power plant inventory requirements are relatively normal for 15 days, coal resources are also very tight, rail transportation is also very tight, and the cash rate of planned coal outside the province is also very low, not exceeding 50%. Han Xiaoping, director of information for China Energy Network, is familiar with the Chinese energy market. He said that the loss of coal-fired power companies was mainly due to the recent surge in coal prices, while electricity prices have not changed:

Qinhuangdao's coal rose from more than 400 to more than 700, while the price of electricity did not rise. Not only the price of coal has risen, but because of the rise in diesel prices, the cost of transportation has risen. This double price increase has exerted tremendous pressure on coal-fired power companies.

Those who are familiar with the coal industry know that China is "market coal and planned electricity." In short, the coal market is already market-oriented, and the price will follow the market; while the price of electricity is controlled by the state. Since 2003, the price of coal in China has continued to rise. The total of 5,500 kcal coal in Shandong has risen by more than 150%, while the increase in sales price of power generation companies has only risen by 32%. As coal prices rise and electricity prices do not rise, power plant losses will be excusable. Is there only one way to solve this problem?

In order to solve the problem of “market coal and planned electricity,” the National Development and Reform Commission once promulgated the coal price linkage mechanism, which means that when the price of coal rises, the price of electricity will rise. But now this mechanism seems to have lost its effect. Zhou Dadi, former director of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that because of the confusing nature of the interests of all parties, the policy of low electricity prices can only be implemented.

The first is the user. Everyone said that the increase in costs cannot stand. Second, the distribution of benefits between the central and local governments is also relevant. If the power generation enterprises are not local but mainly central enterprises, local protectionism will be adopted, and companies will rather lose money. In addition, in order to control the CPI, it is often willing to control the electricity price and the oil price so that individual commodities can be controlled and the CPI can be reduced.

At a time when many coal-fired power companies suffered losses, the Huaneng Yuhuan Power Plant told reporters that they were operating normally and there was no loss. The reason is that the director of Huaneng Yuhuan Power Plant Office revealed that the coal of Yuhuan Power Plant was imported from abroad and basically all purchased in accordance with the long-term contract price at the beginning of the year, and the price had little impact on the cost.

Most of the procurement of raw materials is imported from abroad, and it is better than domestic ones. It will not be the same as domestic ones. It is said that the rise will increase. It is basically based on the contract price at the beginning of the year and is relatively stable.

Han Xiaoping, director of information for China Energy Network, very much agrees with this long-term agreement mechanism. He believes that this can prevent coal prices from being as elusive as stocks, and it is full of risks:

Once the long-term agreement mechanism has been destroyed, our coal or Ye Hao power market is like our stock now. It is very uncertain today if we fall tomorrow. Lin Boqiang, director of the Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, believes that there are problems in signing long-term pricing agreements when the corresponding penalty mechanism is not sound, and it cannot fundamentally solve the plight of coal-fired power companies.

Lin Boqiang: Even if the price is set, the contract will not be able to be implemented. For example, if the price is too high, I will not implement it, let you punish me, or if I add coal gangue to coal, the quality of coal will also decline.

Since the signing of a long-term pricing agreement with coal companies is not a perfect solution, how can we make coal-fired power companies generate electricity without loss? Lin Boqiang believes that far from the market operation, the coal price linkage is the solution in the short to medium term.

Lin Boqiang: Long-term marketization of him; short-term or coal-fired linkage, want to think about this is still the only way. However, he has problems. He must say that coal is moving electric and electric coal, but there are solutions. For example, oil is now subject to windfall profits. The windfall tax is when the price rises very high and the country taxes it. This can be done for oil, and it can be done for coal. For example, if you exceed 700 and sell 750, the central government will charge 50, and it will be the central government rather than the local government because the local government will return. In this way, coal companies do not have that motivation. Selling more is not selling. There are ways to see if the government wants to do it.

However, Han Xiaoping believes that this opportunity should be used to make electricity market as soon as possible. Although it may bring short-term pains such as rising electricity prices, in the long run the price will return to a reasonable level:

Han Xiaoping: In the short term, we will have some price increases, just as we will begin to raise prices in the reform of televisions and refrigerators. With full competition and structural adjustment, electricity prices will slowly come down. If this is not the case, the price will always be like this, it will rise, and it will still be in short supply.