China Electricity Regulatory Commission Releases "New 36" Power Grid Can Not Discriminate Against Private Enterprises

The SERC issued the first implementation opinions in the “new 36” energy sector. Analysts are concerned that due to the lack of specific rules, the SERC has no effective supervision measures and it may not be effective. The SERC released “Strengthening Power Supervision to Support People” yesterday. "Implementation Opinions on Capital Investment in Electricity" has for the first time introduced access to the power grid without discrimination in market access, supervision of fair dispatch of power grids, and access to renewable energies. However, analysts are concerned that due to the absence of specifics and the lack of effective supervision measures by the Electricity Regulatory Commission, it may be difficult to achieve good results.

The "Implementation Opinions" issued by the SERC yesterday was the first implementation opinion in the "new 36" energy sector. Prior to this, the NDRC pointed out that the "new 36" was not ideally implemented in key industries such as energy.

The Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued a total of 15 implementation opinions, in particular requiring power grid companies to discriminate against different ownership enterprises in power dispatching, new energy access, and electricity bill settlement.

Cao Wei, director of the energy and power business of Martec Consulting's China branch, said that overall, the support of implementation opinions is very good, especially in the field of renewable energy. It is the first time that the state-owned and private enterprises should be treated equally in the field of renewable energy. . However, he believes that from the implementation point of view, it still lacks detailed implementation rules. At present, the functions of the Electricity Regulatory Commission are limited to the supervision of electric power safety and reliability and the electricity market. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether this will work.

Lin Boqiang, director of the Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, said that China’s power generation industry was opened to private capital as early as 1985, but its share has fallen from 15% to less than 3% today, and the grid sector is estimated at 2% of the country’s net profit rate. It is difficult to attract private capital to enter.

He believes that the current electricity has entered the "profits" era, if the private capital can not see a reasonable return on investment, relying on a paper document, I am afraid that private capital are not willing to enter.

A person from a state-owned power company stated that the current serious loss of thermal power also caused private companies to be reluctant to enter the power sector.

It is understood that in the new energy fields such as wind energy and solar energy, private capital is mainly concentrated in the manufacturing sector, while the operation of wind farms and photovoltaic power plants is still mainly state-owned power companies. In terms of investing in thermal power and new energy, the current policy has no special restrictions on private capital. It is only based on the size and type of the project that is approved by local or national development and reform commissions.

Whether or not the “new 36” can introduce operational rules in the energy sector has always been the focus of attention. As of now, only the SERC has issued detailed rules. According to media reports, the National Energy Administration will soon issue detailed rules to encourage private capital to participate in investment in new energy fields. The outside world is still focusing on whether the Ministry of Commerce will issue specific suggestions for allowing private oil companies to import refined oil. According to the regulations of the State Council, there is only 10 days left before the “limit” of the final introduction.