NDRC orders end to preferential power discounts

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) ordered China’s provinces to stop giving preferential power discounts to local industries, the Wall Street Journal reported. The practice goes against China’s national plan to conserve energy and reform energy-intensive industries, the NDRC said. Provinces and regions including Inner Mongolia, Yunnan and Ningxia had introduced the discounts to help local manufacturers hit by the global downturn. Beijing has said it may expand a program in which industries buy power directly from generators to save money; at present, they must buy from transmission companies. China’s industries pay the highest tariffs of any power end-users, effectively subsidizing power costs for agricultural and residential users.