Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") and the National Energy Administration ("NEA") have jointly introduced the Circular on Actively Promoting the Market-oriented Power Transactions and Further Improving the Trading Mechanism (the "Circular").
The Circular proposes requirements in nine respects, including "increasing the quantity of power traded under the market-oriented mechanism", "prompting various power generation enterprises to enter the market" and "lifting limits to have eligible users enter the market". Further, the Circular clearly states that it is scheduled to remove restrictions over market players in respect of their participation in seeking market-oriented power transactions across provinces or across regions, encourage power grid enterprises to take part in cross-provincial and cross-region power transactions depending on the situations of supplies and demands and the completion of the clean energy quota, and prioritize the cross-provincial and cross-regional grid-to-grid and grid-to-spot direct transactions. Additionally, the Circular calls for lifting limits in an orderly manner on the voltage class and power consumption of users, adding that any eligible user in need of power at or above 10KV could participate in the said transactions; also, a power user is supported in striking power deals directly with power generation enterprises, if its power consumption demand surpasses five million kilowatt hours in a year alone. Moreover, the Circular has distributed the Implementing Plan for Completely Lifting Limits on the Planned Power Generation and Power Consumption for Power Users in Some Key Sectors.