The nation's top economic planner said Thursday that electricity trading under market rules has surpassed 1 trillion kilowatt hours, representing 19 percent of the nation's total last year.
The trading resulted in savings of 57.3 billion yuan ($8.34 billion) for users, with the cost of electricity being lowered by around 0.07 yuan per kilowatt hour, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.
Efforts were ramped up in the establishment of trading platforms that allow the trading of electricity in a market-based fashion. In March, China set up two trading centers in Beijing and Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, to make power supply more efficient.
Also, China Southern Power Grid has set up provincial-level electricity trading entities via incorporation in five provinces. The State Grid Corp of China completed preparatory work for such facilities in three provinces.
In December, the NDRC unveiled new measures to regulate electricity pricing at provincial power grids. These measures clarified pricing, incentives and restraints for power grids.
Lowering corporate costs is one of the five main tasks of China's ongoing supply-side structural reform, along with cutting industrial capacity, reducing housing inventory, cutting leverage and improving weak economic links.
China started electricity market reform about a decade ago, but the experiment was suspended amid a round of power shortages and price hikes. This time around, due to an oversupply in the power sector, media reports said the reform process is in a better position to achieve results.
