Recently, many places in Guangxi, Yunnan and Jiangsu have intensively introduced electricity price adjustment schemes. In addition to the expansion of the current electricity price fluctuation ratio to 20%, it is also proposed that the transaction electricity price of high energy-consuming enterprises can be increased by 50% or more without this restriction. In this regard, some voices believe that the current economic situation is still complicated, which may push up the price and increase the downward pressure on the economy, so the timing is not appropriate. This view is debatable.
The price increase of high energy-consuming enterprises should be viewed in a broader context. This year is the first year of the "14th Five-Year Plan". In order to cope with the economic pressure, some places have launched projects with high energy consumption and high pollution, and there is a momentum of catching up. This phenomenon reminds us to clarify some questions: in the face of the downward pressure of the economy, is it to ensure temporary growth or to maintain a fixed adjustment structure? How can energy supply maintain pressure to achieve high-quality development?
The most direct driving factor of this electricity price increase is the power shortage, one of which is that the global commodity price surge has greatly increased the energy demand of the related high-energy consuming enterprises that produce these products, and the pressure is transmitted upward to coal, which leads to the coal price surge and the loss of power plants, thus aggravating the power shortage situation. This reform has made the electricity price a big step towards marketization, made the price better reflect the cost and the relationship between supply and demand in the real market, and also corrected the practice of stopping production and limiting electricity across the board in some places, which is a pragmatic and appropriate move.
At the same time, the electricity price reform is also conducive to forcing the transformation and upgrading of enterprises and promoting the adjustment of industry structure. From the actual situation, some places still have a strong dependence on industries with high energy consumption and high emissions. Not long ago, the central eco-environmental protection inspector found that the energy demand of the "Two Highs" projects to be launched in some places was several times that of the newly-increased energy consumption in the 14th Five-Year Plan period. In some places, the energy-saving review and environmental assessment procedures were not complete, and the projects were launched in violation of regulations and were not approved for construction first. In some places, there are still many preferential policies for the "Two Highs" projects.
This situation is not uncommon in the past. Heavy chemical industry characterized by high energy consumption has made great contributions in the early stage of China's economic development, but it has also caused some places to form thinking inertia and path dependence, and once the market is getting better, it will pile up projects with high energy consumption, which is also the deep reason for overcapacity in China's economic development. There are many reasons for the recovery of commodities, such as global currency overshoot and insufficient foreign production capacity. It is not a fundamental recovery of demand. Once exports fall back, there may be a new round of overcapacity risk, which needs to be vigilant.
Growth and structural adjustment are not antagonistic. Economic development needs to maintain a certain speed, which is the need to stabilize employment and protect people's livelihood. Structural adjustment can add stamina to economic development, and the two complement each other. When the old and new kinetic energy shifts and the downward pressure on the economy increases, it is even more necessary to maintain our strength, make up our mind to deeply adjust the industrial structure and resolutely curb the blind development of the "two highs" project.
Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Opinions on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job of Carbon Neutralization in peak carbon dioxide emissions, which proposed that the new and expanded projects with high energy consumption and high emission such as steel, cement, flat glass and electrolytic aluminum should strictly implement the replacement of equal or reduced production capacity, and introduce production capacity control policies such as coal, electricity, chemical industry and coal chemical industry. At the same time, it is proposed to strengthen the early warning and window guidance of overcapacity analysis, carry out the "review" of steel and coal de-capacity, and consolidate the results of de-capacity.
While using market-oriented means such as electricity price to force enterprises to transform, relevant departments can also consider introducing necessary supporting measures, strictly implementing the substitution of advanced production capacity for backward production capacity, preventing "digital substitution", and providing tax incentives for technological transformation of energy-saving and carbon-reducing enterprises to promote enterprises to improve production efficiency through intelligent process reengineering.
We should fully realize that the quality of development can better represent the direction of China's economic development than growth itself. The current electricity price reform reflects this policy orientation and is worthy of recognition.
