Power access for SMEs to be improved

China's energy regulator has vowed to continuously improve electricity services in the country, including the power quality and process of power access to further improve the business environment.

The National Energy Administration said it would further improve the process of electricity access and lower costs for residents as well as small-and medium-sized enterprises, and has earmarked 130 billion yuan ($19.1 billion) in investment for small-and medium-sized enterprises in the country over the next three years.

The administration would continuously push forward the optimization of business environment with improved power access, said Liu Baohua, deputy director of the Administration, during a news conference in Beijing on Monday.

Higher power efficiency and stable power supplies are important for the market operations of business entities and guarantee a sound business environment, he said.

According to the NEA, power access was given to new SMEs in just 30 working days by the end of last year. The SMEs do not have to go to the offices nor provide any initial investment while seeking power access, all of which greatly improves the working efficiency.

Wei Hanyang, a power market analyst at Bloomberg New Energy, said the energy regulator has kept up with the key initiatives across the country to push for power market deregulation.

"Since 2015, this initiative has substantially reduced users' power bills, benefiting millions of commercial and industrial firms," he said.

"This has become a key milestone in China's reform and opening-up road map, while leading to better electricity services."

In the Doing Business 2020 report by the World Bank, China jumped to 31 from 46 last year. The indicator of "access of electricity "was ranked 12, the highest among 10 indicators of China measured by the bank, surpassing Switzerland, France and Iceland. A year ago, China was ranked 98th in terms of getting access to electricity.

The World Bank's assessment of China's business climate uses Shanghai and Beijing as sample cities, giving Shanghai a weighting of 55 percent and Beijing 45 percent. The administration said it would introduce the Beijing and Shanghai experiences to other cities in the country soon.