original title:
National Development and Reform Commission: Relying on institutional advantages and ensuring supply and price stability, my country’s energy prices are generally stable within a reasonable range
Guangming Net News (Reporter Ding Yubing) On January 13, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the situation of ensuring energy supply and ensuring a warm winter.
Since last year, global energy prices have continued to fluctuate at high levels, especially European electricity and gas prices have soared, while my country relies heavily on imports of energy. Under such circumstances, how to ensure the basic stability of my country’s energy prices? In this regard, Lian Weiliang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced that from January to November last year, energy prices in the CPI of the United States and the Eurozone rose by 27% and 38% year-on-year respectively, of which natural gas prices rose by 26.6% and 56.5% year-on-year. Electricity prices rose by 12.9% and 36.3% year-on-year respectively. In stark contrast to this, my country has achieved the overall stability of energy prices within a reasonable range by relying on the combination of institutional advantages and ensuring supply and stabilizing prices, even in the face of international market shocks and extreme weather tests. From January to November last year, the price of water, electricity and fuel for residents in my country’s CPI only increased by about 3%, and the increase in gasoline and diesel prices was also significantly lower than that in Europe and the United States. In particular, the price of electricity and gas for residents remained generally stable.
Lian Weiliang said that my country is a big energy producer, consumer, and importer. Under the severe external environment, it is not easy to achieve energy supply and price stability, especially price stability. To be able to achieve this, the key is to conscientiously implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, continue to strengthen the construction of the energy production, supply, storage and sales system, take energy supply and price stability as a systematic project, and take multiple measures to promote the implementation, specifically embodied in the “four focus on”:
One is to focus on increasing effective supply. Increasing supply is a prerequisite for stabilizing prices, and vigorously promote the release of advanced production capacity and increase energy production capacity. Support enterprises to produce at full capacity under the premise of ensuring safety and increase effective supply. Strengthen transportation coordination and do a good job in the connection between production and transportation.
The second is to focus on improving the price mechanism. The scientific pricing mechanism is the core of stable prices. Innovate and improve the coal market price formation mechanism, and clarify the reasonable range of medium and long-term transaction prices. Deepen the market-oriented reform of coal power on-grid electricity prices, and rationally adjust the range of coal power on-grid electricity prices. Adhere to the protection of people’s livelihood, strictly implement government pricing for residential electricity, and implement door-to-door price policy for residential gas within the coverage of pipeline gas.
The third is to make good use of medium and long-term contracts. Signing medium and long-term contracts is an important measure to hedge against the impact of price fluctuations. Encourage domestic enterprises to sign long-term import agreements early and lock in import resources in advance. To comprehensively improve the contract performance rate of domestic long-term associations, it can be said that energy medium and long-term contracts have become the “ballast stone” to ensure supply and price stability.
The fourth is to focus on the key role of energy companies in ensuring supply. Various energy companies overcame difficulties and worked hard to increase production and supply. The government has tried its best to help energy companies ease their difficulties, control costs through medium and long-term contracts, rationally ease costs through the implementation of price policies, and increase fiscal, taxation, and financial support to effectively alleviate the staged operating difficulties of some companies and ensure energy supply and price stability. Good conditions have been created.