The total debt of China's power grid has exceeded 3 trillion yuan!
Maybe you don't have any idea of this number.
Let's put it this way, if a family's annual living expenses are 100,000 yuan, then 3 trillion is enough for a family to spend 30 million years.
Some netizens expressed their incomprehension, is it that 1.4 billion people can't afford to support China's power grid? Is it that employee benefits are too high?
Why the State Grid is highly indebted
As we all know, State Grid is the largest state-owned enterprise in China, and it is the kind that is super rich.
According to the data, in 2022, the net profit of the State Grid will be 59 billion yuan, and the operating income will be 3.6 trillion yuan.
Let's put it this way, Evergrande's debts of up to 2.4 trillion yuan can be paid off by the State Grid in less than a year.
In the 2023 Fortune Global 500 list, State Grid Corporation of China ranked third in the world's top 500 with a revenue of 530.0088 billion US dollars, ranking first among Chinese companies on the list.
But what may subvert everyone's perception is that although the State Grid has a huge revenue scale, it can't make money in fact, and even loses money.
The business of the power grid can be said to be closely related to our daily life, and the normal operation of lighting equipment and electrical appliances at home is inseparable from it.
At present, the mainland's electricity consumption mainly comes from the State Grid and the China Southern Power Grid, which are completed by the cooperation of these two institutions.
According to the financial report data, as of the third quarter of 2022, the liabilities of the State Grid are as high as 2,643.028 billion, and the asset-liability ratio is 54.95%.
In addition, China Southern Power Grid has a total debt of 674.643 billion yuan and an asset-liability ratio of 60.7%.
Combined, the liabilities of the two have exceeded 3 trillion.
Many people don't understand why there are such huge debts in the power sector, which is used by 1.4 billion people, should be making a lot of money?
There are several reasons for this.
First of all, the State Grid is a people-friendly enterprise.
By the end of 2021, the world's electricity consumption reached 28.466 trillion kWh, of which China generated a total of 8.534 trillion kWh of electricity throughout the year, producing almost one-third of the world's electricity.
In order to make electricity accessible to every Chinese, the coverage rate of the national grid is also very high, reaching more than 98%.
Even in remote corners, even if there are only a few households, as long as there is a need for electricity, it will be arranged for you.
You know, China's electricity prices have hardly risen in the past 20 years, and one kilowatt-hour of electricity is only a few cents.
In the eyes of Europe and the United States, this is something that cannot be imagined.
The cost of setting up the power grid is high, and the people who use electricity are very small, which is almost a loss-making transaction.
Behind this is the need for huge investment, including the construction of transmission and substations, the laying of wires and cables, the construction of hydropower stations, wind farms, etc., and even some of them regardless of the cost.
Even foreign media lamented that China may not necessarily return to its original cost in 100 years.
Relevant data show that in 2020, the State Grid's foreign investment will be as high as 601.8 billion yuan, and the State Grid will invest a total of 6.6 trillion yuan in 18 years.
Especially under the influence of the epidemic in the past three years, most enterprises have experienced very difficult times in the process of development.
In order to alleviate the pressure on enterprises, the state has implemented many reduction and exemption policies, and more than 80 billion yuan has been reduced for enterprises in terms of electricity costs alone.
Moreover, there are various forms of power generation in the mainland, such as coal power, hydropower, wind power and even nuclear power, which are blooming everywhere.
In particular, the ultra-high voltage transmission technology that Chinese are proud of is currently the most advanced in the world.
At present, the highest 1000 kV AC transmission technology is only owned by China in the world, and the longest transmission distance can exceed 5000 kilometers.
Let's put it this way, it is enough to transport coal, wind power, and hydropower from Northwest China to East China and North China!
In this field, the State Grid has led the formulation of 54 international standards, we have controlled all the standards for UHV circuits, and the seven new technical committees are all Chinese.
So much so that many European and American experts sighed: "The world's power system speaks Chinese, because many standards are made by China." ”
Secondly, after meeting the huge domestic electricity demand, the State Grid is also responsible for many foreign trunk energy networks.
It is reported that as an integral part of the "Belt and Road", State Grid has successfully invested and operated 14 backbone energy networks in 10 countries and regions including the Philippines, Brazil, Portugal, Australia, Italy, Greece, Oman, Chile and Hong Kong, China.
For example, the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Without the State Grid spending $1.681 billion to acquire 12 transmission concessions in Brazil and start corresponding technological upgrades, it is estimated that there will be a bit of a pinch race.
Therefore, there is a saying that with a slight move of the national grid, 10 countries can be instantly blacked out.
Not only that, the State Grid also has a bigger goal, that is, "one pole and one pole".
To put it simply, it is to connect the power grids of countries around the world, build a global energy Internet, and then distribute electricity to all corners of the world.
It sounds a bit fanciful, but it is said that the national grid is steadily advancing.
You may not know that State Grid is the technology company with the most patents in China.
In the past five years, the number of invention patents of State Grid has ranked first in the country, and Huawei has ranked second.
Not only is the invention patent in China at the top of the list, but also in the world, the State Grid is also in the top three.
For example, in the 2018 index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China's State Grid ranked third with 21,635 intellectual property rights, the top two being Japan's Canon and South Korea's Samsung Electronics.
In short, the State Grid built the largest network, supplied the most electricity, collected the least money, and even made the world's power system speak Chinese.
If nothing else, there have been no major power outages in Chinese mainland for many years.
From this point of view, the State Grid is really remarkable.
An Indian netizen once asked a question on Twitter: "Does China have uninterrupted electricity 24 hours a day?"
It can't be helped, because India's infrastructure is so poor and there are frequent power outages, but China can do that, and that's where the national grid is awesome.
end
As for the high debt of the State Grid due to the high employee benefits, it is nonsense.
It is an objective fact that the income level of employees in electric power enterprises is relatively high, but not every electric power employee is so high, and it should also be divided into specific regions.
On the whole, the salary of employees in places such as Shandong, Beijing, and Shanghai is generally about 180,000, but in some slightly worse areas, it may be about 120,000.
According to the analysis of industry insiders, although the current debt ratio of the State Grid is high, it is still within a reasonable range.
So it's not like 1.4 billion people can't afford to support China's power grid.