2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and the Central Committee has decided to carry out Party history learning and education throughout the Party. Electric power workers should study the history of the party in combination with the actual reform and development of the electric power industry, and should be connected with the history of new China, the history of reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development, so as to enhance pertinence and effectiveness. Since the reform and opening up, the electric power industry has never stopped the pace of structural reform. It is precisely because of these reforms that the power industry has been continuously promoted to achieve better and faster development. Today, we review the reform of the power system since the reform and opening up, in order to look back at the past struggle and look at the road ahead; Sum up historical experience, grasp the laws of history, and enhance the courage and strength to forge ahead.
1. Reform of the investment system
Before the reform and opening up, the electric power industry adopted a system of "one family running electricity": the central government allocated funds for construction, the former Ministry of Electric Power Industry (Ministry of Water and Power) contracted to run electricity, and all industries in society only used electricity. However, the central government's financial allocation is limited, and the investment in power has been insufficient for a long time, resulting in an increasingly serious situation of power shortage across the country. In 1979, the former Ministry of Electric Power conducted a quantitative survey of the national power shortage, and in 1978, the total national power shortage reached 52.3 billion kilowatt hours, accounting for 20.6% of the actual power generation that year.
On 28 August 1979, the State Council approved and forwarded the "Report on Trial Loan Measures for Capital Construction Investment" and the "Regulations on Trial Capital Construction Loans" issued by the former State Planning Commission, the former State Construction Commission and the Ministry of Finance in document No. 214, stipulating that from 1980 onwards, the system of changing financial appropriations to loans from the Chinese People's Construction Bank will be implemented on a trial basis. The change from the gratuitous use of capital construction funds in the past to the paid use of funds is an important measure taken by the central authorities in deciding to use economic methods to manage capital construction.
The "appropriation of loans" has brought about a change in the power investment system. In 1979, the former Ministry of Electric Power issued the "Notice on the Trial Measures for the Issuance of Capital Construction Loans for the Electric Power Industry" in accordance with the No. 214 document issued by the former Ministry of Electric Power, stipulating that from 1980 onwards, 20 projects under construction of electric power infrastructure projects were "allocated to loans" on a trial basis, and the financial department would no longer invest construction funds and supplement working capital in power enterprises, and enterprises should rely on bank loans to expand reproduction. In addition to repaying the principal, the borrower also has to bear the interest on the loan, with an annual interest rate of 3% and a repayment period of 15 years. The former Ministry of Electric Power has become one of the national industry departments to carry out the pilot project of "appropriation and loan".
The first project of the power industry to implement the "appropriation and loan" is the construction project of Unit 11 of Shanghai Minhang Power Plant (125,000 kilowatts), which borrowed 37 million yuan from the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank, and implemented the paid use of funds. Due to the implementation of the reward and punishment system for the paid use of funds and the early completion of loan projects and the repayment of loans, the loans were repaid 16 months ahead of schedule. The construction of Minhang Unit 11 has taken an important step in broadening the funds for power construction.
Since 1982, the investment appropriations for power supply projects have been converted into loans. In 1985, the "appropriation loan" was extended to power transmission and transformation and small infrastructure projects, and the annual interest rate of the loan was adjusted from 3% to 3.6%. Since then, the power industry has gradually increased the number of special "appropriation loans", commercial bank loans, investment company loans, foreign loans and other pilot projects. During the "Sixth Five-Year Plan" period, the national power infrastructure investment was 14.01 billion yuan, and the total domestic loans were 7.845 billion yuan, accounting for 26.1% of the total power investment. During the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, 15.47 billion yuan was actually completed with 28.6 billion yuan of funds planned for "appropriation and replacement loans", and 16.04 billion yuan was actually completed under the bank loan plan of 8 billion yuan, accounting for 31.85 percent of the total investment in the electric power industry.
As a major reform measure in the field of infrastructure construction and investment and financing, the "appropriation to loan" has promoted the reform of the power industry system.
However, relying solely on the policy of "appropriation and loan" still cannot solve the source of funds needed for the rapid development of the power industry. In order to develop electric power, it is necessary to get rid of the traditional mode of exclusive power management, formulate preferential policies, fully mobilize and give full play to the accumulation of localities, departments and enterprises in running electricity, so that the state, local governments and enterprises can run it together, take a new way of multi-level and multi-channel financing and running electricity, and give priority to the fund-raising units to use electricity, so as to be the source of funds for the development of electric power.
In 1981, Shandong Longkou Power Plant created a precedent for raising funds to run electricity. The former Ministry of Electric Power and the Yantai District Administration of Shandong Province jointly built the first phase of the Longkou Power Plant, installing two 100,000 kilowatt units, with a total investment of about 165 million yuan, and the former Ministry of Electric Power was responsible for the power plant equipment cost of about 60 million yuan.
In order to further promote the work of raising funds to run electricity, on 23 May 1985, the State Council approved and forwarded the "Interim Regulations on Encouraging the Raising of Funds to Run Electric Power and the Implementation of Various Electricity Prices" formulated by the former State Economic Commission, the former State Development Planning Commission, the former Ministry of Water and Power, and the former State Price Bureau in Document No. 72 of the State Council. Raising funds to run electricity has been elevated from departmental and local practice to a national policy.
Guo Fa No. 72 document promoted the construction funds in the hands of local governments to enter the field of power construction, and the funds for power construction increased substantially, and the scale of power construction expanded rapidly, which played a certain role in alleviating the power shortage at that time.
Typical projects for raising funds to run electricity include: Zhejiang Taizhou Power Plant (2*125,000 kW unit) jointly built by Zhejiang Provincial Government and the former Ministry of Electric Power, Yunnan Manwan Hydropower Station (1.25 million kW in the first phase) jointly built by the Yunnan Provincial Government and the former Ministry of Water and Power, Hunan Wuqiangxi Hydropower Station (1.2 million kW) jointly built by the Hunan Provincial Government and the former Ministry of Water and Power, and 500 kV Gezhouba-Changde-Zhuzhou UHV Power Transmission and Transformation Project jointly built by the former Ministry of Water and Power and Hunan Province.
In order to solve the source of funds for power construction and alleviate the tension of the contradiction between power supply and demand in East China's power grid, the former Ministry of Water and Power proposed at the meeting of the Shanghai Economic Zone Planning Office of the State Council in August 1983 to adopt the method of raising the price of industrial electricity by two cents per kilowatt hour as a power construction fund. In June 1984, the leading group of East China Power Grid discussed and adopted the "Implementation Measures for Raising Funds for Electric Power Construction in East China Power Grid", which was jointly reported to the State Planning Commission by the Shanghai Economic Zone Planning Office of the State Council and the former Ministry of Water and Power. In September 1984, the State Council approved the trial implementation of a two-cent electric power construction fund in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai from 1985 onwards.
In order to solve the problem of serious shortage of electricity and insufficient funds for electric power construction in the whole country, on the basis of the pilot projects in East China and the results achieved, on December 21, 1987, the State Council approved and forwarded the "Interim Regulations on the Collection of Electric Power Construction Funds" issued by the former State Development Planning Commission in Document No. 111, and decided to collect electric power construction funds nationwide from January 1, 1988 as special funds for local electric power infrastructure construction, and the collection standard was two cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity, which should be paid by users along with the electricity charges and collected by the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The funds for power construction should first be used for the construction of large and medium-sized power projects that have been included in the national plan to make up for the investment gap in the projects arranged by the state. The two cents are like a medicine primer, mobilizing the accumulation of local governments in various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities to run electricity, and establishing a stable source of funds for raising funds to run electricity.
In the 1980s, under the general situation of large-scale foreign cooperation and exchanges in the economic field, the electric power industry opened its door, attracted foreign capital, especially overseas Chinese businessmen's capital, and introduced foreign management methods and technologies and equipment, which walked in the forefront of various industrial sectors, and the capital market became another major source of funds for China's electric power construction. Foreign capital mainly includes relatively preferential loans such as financial organizations, foreign government loans and foreign export credits, as well as overseas Chinese businessmen's capital, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan capital. In addition to loans, there are various forms of foreign investment, such as cooperation, joint ventures, and BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer).
The first phase of the Guangdong-Hong Kong interconnection project, which was put into operation in March 1979, used a number of power transmission and transformation equipment provided by the Hong Kong and China Power Company.
The Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong, which started construction in 1987, became a joint venture project in China in the early days of reform and opening up with a total investment of US$4.072 billion.
Guangzhou Shajiao B Plant (2*350,000 kW) is a typical project using foreign capital to run electricity, it is a BOT project in China, and it is also a large-scale infrastructure project with syndicated loans obtained by means of project financing, the progress of the project is very fast, and two units have been completed and put into operation in 27 months. Its investor, Hong Kong businessman Hu Yingxiang, invested in the construction of Shajiao C plant (3*660,000 kilowatts).
During the "Sixth Five-Year Plan" and "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, there is an important source of funds for power construction, and there is also a special fund for "coal instead of oil". In the early 1980s, there were a large number of oil-fired power plants in the country, and the State Council decided to replace oil with coal, free up crude oil exports, accumulate funds, and turn their hands on the development of energy transportation. A special fund for replacing oil with coal has been set up and included in the national plan. The former State Development Planning Commission set up the State Council's Office for Special Funds for Replacing Oil with Coal, which was responsible for drawing up plans and plans for substituting coal for oil, managing special funds, and examining and approving coal-for-oil construction projects. The State Council allocated 1 million tons of crude oil, the profit income of export oil is about 570 million yuan and the boiler transformation fund of 300 million yuan arranged by the state finance as start-up capital, and at the same time establishes the principle of rolling development, using this fund to arrange a batch of oil-fired boilers to transform into coal-fired boilers, and the pressed down oil is used for export, and the profits of export oil are still used as "coal instead of oil" funds for compressing the oil burning work of generator sets and rolling development.
In June 1985, with the approval of the State Council, Huaneng Electric Power Development Company was established as an independent power generation company specializing in the construction and operation of power plants with foreign capital. Huaneng Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. is managed by the Coal and Oil Substitute Office of the State Council, and is an investment joint venture with independent legal personality, independent accounting in operation, and self-responsibility for profits and losses. By December 1989, Huaneng Dalian Power Plant, Fuzhou Power Plant, Nantong Power Plant, and Shang'an Power Plant were successively completed and put into operation ahead of schedule, and the four plants were all 2*350,000 kilowatt coal-fired units. Huaneng Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. has built and put into operation a batch of thermal power plants with high speed, high quality and low cost, which has made a substantial contribution to alleviating the situation of power shortage and laid a good foundation for the rapid development of using foreign capital to run electricity. In August 1988, China Huaneng Group Corporation was established in August 1988 under the rapid development of Huaneng Electric Power Development Company, Huaneng Refined Coal Company, Huaneng Power Generation Company and other enterprises under the centralized management of the Coal and Oil Substitute Office of the State Council. Huaneng Group is a product of "separating government from enterprises" and "raising funds to run electricity", which provides successful experience for deepening the reform of the power system.
On November 14, 1985, the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issues Concerning the Planning and Arrangement of Coal for Oil during the Seventh Five-Year Plan Period (Guo Ban Fa [1985] No. 76) further clarified that the funds for coal instead of oil should be included in the Ministry of Finance, and the investment in coal instead of oil should be converted into loans, and the recovered loans will still be used as special funds for coal instead of oil and continue to be used for energy and transportation construction.
According to the statistics of the implementation of the "Seventh Five-Year Plan", the country has completed 100 billion yuan of investment in power construction, of which more than 20 billion yuan has been invested in coal instead of oil and Huaneng has raised funds and utilized foreign capital, accounting for 20% of the country's power investment; Of the 39 million kilowatts of installed capacity of new large and medium-sized power stations in the country, coal-to-oil and Huaneng units account for 21%.
Driven by the policy of multi-channel fund-raising and power management, the new pattern of multiple power companies has gradually replaced the old pattern of one power company, forming a situation of diversified investment subjects, multiple sources of funds, multi-level property rights, and paid use of funds. By the 2002 power system reform, the installed power generation capacity outside the original national power company system has accounted for half of the country's installed power generation capacity!
Second, the reform of the infrastructure management system
In the process of using foreign capital to run electricity, the "Lubuge shock" first had a major impact on China's power construction, especially hydropower construction, and then triggered the reform of the national capital construction management system.
Yunnan Lubuge Hydropower Station (4*150,000 kilowatts) is a capital construction project in China with a loan from the World Bank, and for the first time in China, it has adopted the management methods such as bidding, contract management, general project supervision system and project legal person responsibility system, and has achieved the economic effect of low investment, short construction period and good quality. This management model improves efficiency and challenges the original investment system, construction management model and organizational structure of construction enterprises.
As a window and pilot, "Lubuge" has brought a huge impact to the entire power construction industry and accelerated the process of hydropower development from the reform of survey, design and construction to the adoption of new bidding, supervision and contract management. Guangzhou pumped storage, Guangxi Yantan, Yunnan Manwan, Fujian Shuikou, Hubei Qingjiang Geheyan and other five million kilowatt hydropower stations have implemented the owner responsibility system, bidding and contracting system, construction supervision system management mode, these projects in the construction period, quality, cost and other aspects of the recognition of the results, by the industry known as the "five golden flowers".
In the 80s and 90s of the 20th century, power infrastructure enterprises began to reform the capital construction management system by learning from and drawing on management concepts, mechanisms and practices of their peers. In the field of electric power infrastructure, the "five systems" have been gradually popularized and implemented, namely, the project legal person responsibility system, the bidding system, the project supervision system, the contract management system and the capital system. Enterprises such as electric power survey and design, building construction, and mechanical and electrical installation have carried out institutional and mechanism reforms in many aspects such as project acquisition, process management, cost control, and profit distribution.
3. The "two crosses" policy
In the 1980s, with the rapid development of the electric power industry, the investment in electric power infrastructure has maintained the position of investment in various sectors of the national economy for a long time, and the installed power generation capacity and annual power generation capacity of the country have increased greatly.
Although the development rate of the electric power industry is higher than the average rate of national economic growth in the same period, due to the rapid growth of electricity consumption in the whole society, especially industrial electricity consumption, the development of the electric power industry still cannot meet the social demand. By the mid-1980s, the nationwide power shortage was becoming more and more serious, and the contradiction between supply and demand continued to be tense.
In May 1986, the conference on the reform of the electric power system proposed that the fundamental issue of the reform of the electric power industry system should be conducive to accelerating the construction of electric power, fully mobilizing the accumulation of all aspects of running electricity, and paying attention to carrying out more electric power construction under the condition that the national strength allows. After the meeting, a group for the reform of the electric power industry system was set up to study and formulate a reform plan.
On June 25, 1986, the Reform Group for the Reform of the Electric Power Industry submitted to the State Council the Reform Plan for Accelerating the Development of the Electric Power Industry (Draft). The draft puts forward six opinions: reforming the relationship between the inter-provincial power grid and the provincial power grid; reforming the relationship between the power grid and power plants, and expanding the authority of power plants; During the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, the power infrastructure construction will be contracted by the former Ministry of Water and Power to the state; encourage multi-channel electricity management; Reform the current investment structure for modernization and increase the capacity of power plants and power grids to self-renew equipment; The tax rate of the electric power industry product tax will be reduced, the differential interest rate and interest discount will be implemented for loans, and the funds for power construction will be increased. Subsequently, on the basis of this plan, the 16-character principle of "province as entity, joint power grid, unified dispatch, and fund-raising for electricity" was initially established.
In mid-September 1987, the former State Development Planning Commission, the former State Economic Commission, and the former Ministry of Water and Electricity convened responsible persons of the provincial, regional, and municipal planning commissions and economic commissions, as well as provincial bureaus and bureaus
