The National Energy Administration ("NEA") has recently issued the Measures for Regulation of Equal Openness of Power Grids (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") for public comment by January 5, 2020.
The Draft for Comment provides that power grid enterprises shall provide equal and non-discriminatory access to power grids for power supply projects, and shall not commit five types of acts, such as "refusing, without any justifiable reasons, the application for access to power grids filed by the owner of a power supply project, or stalling on the access to the power system"; an application filed for access to power grids with the power grid enterprise requires the newly-built power supply project to meet certain conditions, including "conforming to national industry policies and not falling into the category of obsolete industries or the category of restricted industries presented in the Guiding Catalog for Industrial Restructuring announced by the state". In addition, the Draft for Comment clearly states that power grid enterprises shall provide equal and non-discriminatory services to interconnect power grids, and shall not commit five types of acts, including "refusing, without any justifiable reasons, the application for connections with power grids filed by the power grid interconnectivity initiator, or stalling on the interconnectivity (access)". Furthermore, the Draft for Comment emphasizes that the NEA and its local offices may take certain measures, including "entering power grid enterprises to carry out checks", and the targeted enterprises and their staff members shall cooperate.