Southern provinces introduce power-supply reforms

China’s electricity supply-system will be reformed under a new scheme that starts in the first half of 2008, according to the South China Bureau of State Electriciy Regulatory Commission, Xinhua Net reported (in Chinese). The reform is aimed at breaking grid corporations’ monopoly on the electricity market. The program will encourage power plants to sell electricity directly to major users instead of through grid companies. A power plant will be allowed to build its own grid to transmit the electricity, or it can pay to have it transmitted through existing grids. The scheme will initially be employed in southern China.