All of the statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are reproduced at the end of this article
With the name of State Grid, people's first impression of him is that it is a national enterprise with high wages and high welfare. Some people even set entering such a unit as their goal, and always feel that a large enterprise like this will not be at a loss.
However, the fact is that in the national data of 2022, the State Grid has a debt of 2.64 trillion yuan, plus the 0.6 trillion debt of the Southern Power Grid of the same source as him, the two power grids only owe as much as 3 trillion yuan.
You must know that in today's social development, the amount of electricity consumption is also soaring, is it that 1.4 billion people can't afford to support a national power grid?
What is the cause of grid loss?
Grid deficit status
China International Grid is the largest state-owned enterprise in China, and in June 2022, the assets of the State Grid have reached 4.89797 billion yuan, which deserves to be among the world's top 500 companies, and he is still the top of the top 500 lists, which is enough to show that the strength of China's power grid cannot be underestimated.
But even if the total assets have such a scale, the debt situation behind him is still worrying, and by the second half of 2022, the State Grid has a debt of 2.6 trillion yuan.
However, you must know that the operating area of China's power grid exceeds 26 provinces in the country, accounting for 90% of the total, the area is so extensive, and there are many electricity users, he has been in a state of loss.
In fact, the correlation between the national grid is very high, that is to say, once a power outage is found somewhere, the national power grid will be more or less affected, like the power outage in the United States and Canada in 2002, the scale directly affects nearly 10 million people, and directly causes a loss of 10 billion US dollars.
With such a lesson from the past, Continental Power Grid has continuously strengthened the company's construction goals to better manage power transportation.
In 2020, the mainland's social power generation was 7.42 trillion kilowatt hours, and the electricity consumption was as high as 7.51 trillion kilowatt hours.
Grid loss facts
As an enterprise with an annual revenue of hundreds of millions of yuan, the mainland power grid will have such a high debt, so at the beginning, people pointed the finger at the people working in the national grid.
In fact, it is not difficult to think, after all, the salary of such a national enterprise will not be too low, and it is true, the salary of the staff of the power grid has not been low, as early as 2006, the "First Financial Daily" claimed
The monthly salary of the internal meter reader of China Power Grid is 6,500 yuan, of which 16 months' salary, year-end bonus and other social benefits can be received every year.
A simple meter reading four times a day can reach an annual income of 100,000 yuan, this article has been issued to cause dissatisfaction among the people, the State Grid high salary is considered extremely unreasonable.
Later, the People's Daily also published an article "What is the loss of tens of billions of power enterprises, and the important reason for the high welfare of employees." >> Completely show the excessive income of power grid employees in people's field of vision.
And if it is a region with better economic development, the salary of power grid employees in Beijing, Shanghai and other places is as high as 180,000 yuan per year, which not only makes the masses more determined that China's power grid is to disperse the money into the hands of employees, so it leads to losses.
But the fact is not entirely so, to know that the construction of the power grid is a very huge system engineering, like the general erection of transmission lines, is a very high cost and slow return process, like the mainland's west-to-east power transmission project, this problem makes several generations of power grid engineers think day and night, but in the end it is also the successful development of UHV transmission technology, before the project is completely solved, it is understood that only the initial stage of construction has invested 10 billion yuan.
This is just to build the line, not to mention the continuous maintenance and upgrading in the later stage, and always face the damage of extreme weather to the line, which is a great investment.
From the metropolis to the remote mountainous areas, the mainland electricity price has been maintained at about 0.6 yuan / kWh, which is completely disproportional to the cost of his input, and the price of insulation materials required for the power grid is constantly rising, but the price of electricity is still maintained at this range.
In addition, in response to the country's demand for electricity coverage throughout the country, China's power grid has been working tirelessly, and the power coverage plan has been implemented since 1956.
You must know that the remote areas of China are surrounded by mountains, remote locations, and tortuous roads, and it is conceivably difficult to cover power lines in such places.
But the State Grid has done a great job of doing this with loans, and today, China's grid coverage is as high as 98%.
Don't look at the brilliant development of China's power grid now, but the development of power resources in the early mainland was not smooth.
China's power development
China's first power plant was built in 1882, when the British in the Shanghai Concession of China pulled up a wire on the edge of the Chinese Concession in order to increase their nighttime entertainment, and in that year, the arc lights were lit for the first time on the Bund side of China.
British businessmen saw the opportunity and built the first power plant in China: the Shanghai Dianguang Company.
At that time, China was in a backward position, and people were displaced due to frequent wars, and there was no energy to vigorously research electricity, so the development of electric power in China was extremely difficult at first.
In 1926, China's total power generation reached 1.011 billion kilowatts, which is quite a lot, but compared with the 94.2 billion kilowatt hours of the United States at the same time, it seems to be a drop in the bucket.
It was not until the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 that the still stable country began to devote itself to national construction, and power resources were gradually established and used.
In 1950, China started the battle of electric power, only within one year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's electric power development has made a major breakthrough, when the output of power resources has reached 5.7 billion kilowatt hours, after which the mainland's electric power development has sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and the five-year plan and reform and opening up have promoted the development of power resources.
However, at that time, the economic development was unbalanced, and the distribution of electricity in various places was uneven, so it was urgent to solve this problem, so in December 2002, China Power Grid was established.
By 2018, the length of wires and lines above 35,000 volts in our stock had reached 1.89 million kilometers, nearly a hundred times more than during the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Even with such an achievement, in 2021, the interest rate of the mainland State Grid will only be 1.6%, which is really nothing compared to the number invested, but as long as it is profitable, it is already very good.
Moreover, in recent years, the mainland has been developing clean energy, and the proportion of hydropower, wind power and solar power has been increasing, which has effectively reduced the cost of power generation.
From relying on foreign technology to build power plants to leading the development of the global power industry, the difficulties of the mainland are difficult for many people to imagine.
National power is the foundation of economic development and social progress, we should support the national grid to overcome difficulties, and gradually establish more beneficial and efficient power resources.
Key Sources:
The original article was published on Xinhuanet on May 5, 2022 on "Losses Can't Hide the Bright Color - Interpretation of the Annual Reports of Major Listed Companies under the Five Major Power Generation Groups".
This article was originally published on the power grid on March 31, 2023 on "With debts exceeding 3 trillion yuan, 1.4 billion people can't afford China's power grid?" reports
This article was originally published on 7 September 2021 on the topic "The History of China's Electric Power: From Kerosene Lamps to Artificial Suns!".