China Liberalises Pricing For Coal-fired Electricity

China's top economic planner announced on Tuesday an improved pricing mechanism for coal-fired power to deepen market-oriented pricing reform in the sector.

The National Development and Reform Commission said it will fully liberalise pricing for electricity generated from coal, and that industrial and commercial users will all have to buy from the market.

The commission said, giving no specific time frame, that 100 percent of electricity generated from coal-fired power will be priced via market trading, up from 70 percent in the country now.

And the floating range of market-based electricity transaction prices are adjusted in principle to a range of 20 percent fluctuation in either direction, compared with the current ceiling of 10 percent and the floor of 15 percent from the benchmark price.

The reforms are Beijing's latest effort to deal with an energy crisis gripping the world's second largest-economy that is expected to last through the year-end. (Xinhua, Reuters)