Plenum Document Gives Experts in Energy Industry Reason for Hope

The party released a 20,000-character document on November 15 detailing decisions finalized at the third full meeting of its 18th Central Committee. The conclave met from November 9 to 12 in the capital.

Among the 60 tasks the party said it wanted to accomplish by 2020 was establishing market-oriented pricing systems for water, crude oil, natural gas, electricity, transportation and telecoms. The government “will give the market the right to set prices” and only keep controls on prices for public utilities and services, the document said.

These statements are the cause for hope that long-stagnant price reforms in the power industry can be achieved. Experts see these steps on prices as key if progress is to be made on overall reform of energy industries. The country’s wholesale power prices and tariffs for residential and industrial usage are set by the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner.

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