Stochastic energy price: a balance between saving energy and stabilizing prices

On November 25, the National Development and Reform Commission released on its website a commentary on “Multi-measures and Safeguards and Safeguarding the People's Livelihood: The Fourth Comment on the Implementation of the State Council Circular on Stabilizing the General Level of Consumer Price to Protect the Basic Lives of the Mass.” The commentary calls for price departments at all levels to take further measures to clean up and cancel unreasonable charging items that involve the production of enterprises and the lives of the masses, reduce the high charging standards and unreasonable prices, and ease the increase in production cost and increase the cost of living for the people. pressure.

Especially in the areas of civil energy such as water, electricity, gas, etc., the price adjustment can be described as a result of the whole body. Therefore, the NDRC requires all localities to treat price increases prudently, conscientiously implement the State Council’s spirit of stabilizing the general level of prices, and grasp government management prices. The timing, rhythm, and intensity of adjustments.

Reviewing the "Notice on Further Promoting the Reform of Urban Water Supply Pricing" issued by the five ministries and commissions of the country in 2002, the plan for popularizing the water price of the ladder is clearly proposed. In October this year, the National Development and Reform Commission also announced the "Guidance on Implementing Stepped Price Electricity for Household Electricity Use (Consultation Draft)". It also hopes to achieve electricity price ladder. Regarding gas, although there are no government-level opinions yet, consumers will think whether they will also promote price ladders.

Faced with the latest proposed by the National Development and Reform Commission: Measures for the price of hydropower oil and gas were issued with caution. People cannot help asking: how do you view the two notifications of the National Development and Reform Commission? The starting point for the country’s prudent price increase is to take into account the consumer’s affordability and to provide everyone with a better living environment. However, the depletion of the three major energy sources of water, electricity and gas is a harsh reality facing people. With regard to statistics, taking the domestic water as an example, the international average is 80 liters per day, while in China it is around 150-200 liters per day. . How can we not increase prices and ensure effective implementation of energy-saving and emission reduction? This requires finding a balance between saving energy and stabilizing prices. The ladder price is the most economical means for coordinating energy conservation and price issues, which is most suitable for the energy sector. The emphasis is not on price adjustment, but on reducing energy waste through price adjustment.

From 2002 to now, from the ladder water price to the ladder power price, the repeatedly proposed energy-saving economic lever has never shaken the virtuous circle of energy conservation. What are the reasons?

In response to this problem, the author interviewed relevant experts and learned that metering equipment is the biggest problem that cannot be fully universalized. "There must be statistical data approved by all parties. The requirements for water meters are very high, but they are not unrealistic. We have already done so," said Fan Jun, deputy general manager of Ningbo Longkang Intelligent Instrument Co., Ltd. The collection and transmission of data from each water meter to the back office server of the water company is an important part of Longkang's metering technology solutions. Longkang science and technology through the cell data concentrator, each household's water consumption remote centralized copying, meter reading workers as long as the regional concentrator issued instructions, you can transfer the entire community of water data to the water company, to achieve the data The remote transmission does not require manual copying or entry into the computer.

In response to the overall requirements of “ladder price”, Longkang Technology provides a complete technical solution, not only providing measurement products, but also designing overall technical solutions for data statistics, sorting, querying, and management according to the actual needs of the water company. "Stepped water price" implementation. Therefore, Longkang's "Don't Have a Blind Passive Direct Reading Water Meter" is also called "a ladder water meter." The solution to technical problems cleared the barriers to the spread of water prices.

Different from the price of ladder water, the price of the ladder has caused a great debate in the society. The focus is on pricing. Cai Guoxiong, deputy chief engineer and doctoral supervisor of the China Electric Power Research Institute, wrote that the ladder price is not conducive to energy saving, but it is more suitable for time-sharing. This is because electricity and water are different, and electricity cannot be stored, but water can be stored. Regardless of whether the ladder pricing or time-share pricing, are to achieve energy savings through economic means. Although the pricing method is different, the same with the step price of water is also strict requirements for the measurement equipment.

The energy crisis has long been a non-new topic. Especially this year's electricity shortages and oil shortages have magnified this issue. Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, the government will formulate more encouraging policies and use policies and market methods to promote energy conservation and emission reduction. Therefore, the country will introduce a pricing and pricing policy for water and electricity, and formulate a more suitable price system based on energy characteristics such as water, electricity, and gas to achieve energy conservation.

Whether it is ladder pricing or time-share pricing, the core of it is through price adjustment to allow people to form a sense of conservation and develop a saving habit. It is not simply a price increase. It can be seen that economic means is the first choice for energy conservation, and metering equipment is the key to successful implementation.