Vice-Premier Han Zheng has stressed the importance of prioritizing the country's energy supply for this winter and next spring to ensure people's needs are met and to keep the economy running steadily while China promotes energy conservation in an effort to tackle climate change.
Han, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remark while inspecting State Grid Corp of China.
Speaking at a symposium after the inspection, Han said that the new development philosophy, which calls for innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, must be fully and accurately implemented by striking a balance between development and security.
To ensure that the public can get through the winter with warmth, emergency plans must be prepared to address extremely cold weather, hidden risks need to be effectively prevented or resolved, and the safe supply of energy must be guaranteed, he said.
Han said efforts are required to increase the supply of coal used for generating electricity and natural gas through various channels while stabilizing the supply and price of coal. In addition, the clean use of coal must be vigorously promoted, he said.
Han said that the electricity-generating capacity of coal-fired power companies should be brought to a normal level as soon as possible.
The vice-premier also urged government authorities to further study the establishment of a coal-electricity price linking mechanism and to encourage financial institutions to guarantee the reasonable financing needs of coal-fired power companies and heating companies.
More preferential financial and tax policies should be offered to help companies ease their temporary difficulties, he said.
He stressed safe production by companies and the safe operation of the power grid to ensure the safe supply of electricity for the whole of society.
High attention must be paid to changes in international energy prices in order to better guide and stabilize market expectations and ensure the steady operation of the domestic energy market, Han said.
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