摘要
China’s traditional power industry model and power market reform The Chinese government initiated the electric power market reform in December 2002. The reform has since de-integrated the old State Power Corporation into five state-owned power generation companies and two grid companies, established the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, created regional wholesale markets and started experimental wholesale competition. Further de-integration between transmission and distribution and retail market competition are next on the agenda. This reform clearly follows the recent reform practice of the western developed countries to build a competitive power market model. However, the Chinese reform has met with great difficulties and has not yet shown real effects. To understand the problem, it is important to compare some important differences between the Chinese and western power market reforms.
China＇s electric power reform has followed the western reform format, however, it doest not seem to have endorsed the liberalization ideology underlying the reform model. This raises the concern of whether and how a competitive power market may be established and reform objectives reached.
The new market competition model is easy to build in theory. The experience of many countries suggests that the market reform is extremely difficult because of the interruptions by different interest groups.
To transform a centrally planned power sector into a competitive power market is a daunting task. Policy makers need to take into consideration the transitional nature of the economy and power industry as they implement the competitive power market model.
