How much room does my country's electricity price level still have to improve?

Polaris Thermal Power Grid News: "Marketization has risks, but not marketization is the biggest risk. The ultimate goal of electricity marketization is to improve efficiency, the interests of each consumer are protected in the market, and everyone is responsible for their own behavior and choices. This is the greatest charm of marketization." Recently, on an online exchange platform created by the China Comprehensive Energy Service Industry Innovation and Development Alliance and other institutions, the China Price AssociationElectricity PriceExpert and former director of the Electricity Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission's Price Department, Hou Shouli pointed out thatElectrical modificationThe goal is very clear. Although there are many problems and difficulties, we must unswervingly promote the process of marketization of electricity, especially the electricity price level, and there is still a lot of room for improvement overall.

Electricity price reform is in progress

Hou Shouli introduced that before the benchmark electricity price was implemented, eachPower generation companiesThe electricity price for selling electricity to the power grid is "one plant, one core", or even "one unit, one core". For example, the on-grid electricity price of four units in a nuclear power plant is different. By type, the on-grid electricity prices of coal, gas, electricity, water and electricity are also different; from the consumption side, the prices of industrial and commercial users, residents and agricultural electricity are also set separately.

"In the past, electricity was 'unified purchase and sales'. Power grid companies were the only buyers for power generation companies, and power users were the only sellers. The prices of power purchase and power supply for power grid companies were uniformly formulated by the government, and the profits of power grid companies mainly come from the purchase and sales price difference." Hou Shouli said.

Since then, the on-grid electricity price has been gradually replaced by the "benchmark electricity price", and the benchmark on-grid electricity price is no longer based on the actual cost of each power plant or unit, but is based on the average cost of the same type of unit. In 2015, the "Document No. 9" was released, and a new round of electricity reform kicked off, and the electricity price gradually became "untied" from the original "bundled" sales electricity price.

It is understood that in the power price part, the current electricity generation and use plan for commercial power users is fully liberalized, and power generation companies, power users and power sales companies can wholesale and trade part of the electricity through bilateral negotiations, centralized bidding, etc.; in the power transmission and distribution price part, the power transmission and distribution price of each provincial power grid for the first regulatory cycle has been approved, which includes cross-subsidies in the original sales price, and the power transmission and distribution prices in most provinces and regions also include line losses.

"In accordance with the reform spirit of 'controlling the middle and liberalizing both ends', the market will form electricity prices in the competitive links in the future, and the government will formulate electricity prices in the natural monopoly links and electricity prices in some terminals. The 13th Five-Year Plan is the early stage of the transition. Judging from foreign experience, it will take about 2-3 regulatory cycles, or even longer, to complete the reform." Hou Shouli said.

Power system efficiency is critical

Hou Shouli said that electricity is different from other commodities, and the cost of different power supplies is quite different, and transactions are conducted on a unified platform. In order to ensure that high-priced power supplies enter the market and ensure reasonable returns, the designer proposed a new idea - CFD, that is, the government electricity price of divided power supplies. "For example, the UK wants to build a nuclear power plant. Assuming that the wholesale price of its power market is 0.3 yuan/kWh, but the cost of building a new nuclear power plant is high. According to the market electricity price, investors are unwilling to invest in the construction of a nuclear power plant. The government conducts bidding. The winning bidder costs 0.9 yuan/kWh, and then spread the average price difference of 0.6 yuan/kWh to consumers."

It is understood that my country has not yet implemented the "CFD" model, but has adopted other methods - to ensure that some power grid companies have "unified purchase and sales" of parts of the electricity volume to a stable and unchanged transaction volume, and they are called "priority power generation rights" and "priority power generation prices"; the other part is the market electricity part, and the settlement is carried out using the price difference conduction mode.

In other words, a new electricity price system based on market transaction electricity prices and transmission and distribution prices is being implemented, but the original electricity price system based on the above grid electricity prices and sales electricity prices still exists. The two sets of electricity price systems are in parallel to form my country's current electricity price system.

Hou Shouli said: "At present, by user, the average electricity price of large industries is 0.6 yuan/kWh; the average electricity price of industrial and commercial enterprises is slightly higher. After two rounds of electricity price cuts, most areas have achieved the same price in industry and commerce; the level of electricity prices for residents and agricultural electricity prices is relatively low due to the low cross-subsidy electricity price, with an average of about 0.4 yuan/kWh. There are great regional differences in electricity prices in my country, especially the gap between the east and west."

How to evaluate the current electricity price level in my country? Hou Shouli believes that compared with the past, there is obvious progress; compared with foreign countries, it is relatively leading, but it is not comparable to electricity prices in the United States and Europe. "Because economy, cleaning and safety are the 'impossible triangle' of electricity, and it is difficult to take into account both."

In Hou Shouli's view, my country's system has a large redundancy, and it cannot always achieve system balance by adding more water and adding more water" and efficiency can be further improved. At the same time, without raising prices, relying on technological progress and institutional innovation to increase the proportion of green and clean energy. In addition, in the past, the scope of basic protection was too wide, such as cross-subsidies to maintain low electricity prices for residents and farmers, thus sacrificing other aspects of efficiency. In the future, more attention should be paid to efficiency factors on the basis of basic protection. ”

Pricing mechanism conversion is core

How to develop the marketization of electricity prices in the 14th Five-Year Plan? Hou Shouli believes that "conversion of pricing mechanism" is the most core content. "Price level is influenced by the pricing mechanism. In the past, price was priced according to the production side cost, and the price not only had to make up for the cost but also had to obtain reasonable returns, but also the key was to see whether the consumer paid; in the future, it would be priced according to the price of use, and the government sets prices to turn to the market to determine prices, and the price level should be stable and flexible.

Hou Shouli predicts that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the pricing form will also undergo a series of changes. The electricity prices for power supply and links are shifted to electricity prices for market and time periods. At the same time, wholesale market electricity prices, retail market electricity prices, medium- and long-term trading electricity prices, spot market electricity prices, electricity auxiliary service prices, etc. will take shape one after another.

Regarding the energy storage industry that is widely concerned by the power system, Hou Shouli said: "Energy storage is power generation but not power generation, it is power use but not power, and can be on the power grid and off the power grid. Therefore, the statement that the source grid is load storage is not accurate. Energy storage, whether it is the source or the grid and the load, the price should be priced through what it can do, rather than the energy storage form formed by what technical routes, that is, the price is determined based on the services provided by energy storage.

Hou Shouli pointed out that power transmission, distribution, power sales, energy storage, scheduling, transaction services, auxiliary services, etc. are inseparable from the power grid, and market operation is even more inseparable from the power grid. In addition, in the eyes of users, it doesn’t matter what electricity is made and where it comes from. Whether the electricity can be used at any time or whether the electricity price is lower is the concern of users.