China's Communist leaders see need

China's Communist leaders see need for power competition

Think they'll figure it out
before land of free,
home of brave?

China started simulated electric competition in January on its way to setting up six regional power markets.
     About 26 power generators affiliated with five state-owned utilities in the northeast and eastern Inner Mongolia (generation capacity of 21,740 mw) began to sell power to distributors through a bidding process, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
     Monthly trade is set for the trial period on a monthly basis with daily and real-time trading expected in the near future.
     The government picked the northeast with 100+ million for the opening act because it has a power surplus and experience with a largely unsuccessful competitive pricing model in 1999.
     The plan is to foster competitive pricing at the regional level to break up provincial barriers.
     China's State Power Corp was broken up in December 2002 ahead of TVA and BPA by years. (Story originally published in Restructuring Today 1/20/04)