China, the world’s biggest energy user, increased electricity prices for the first time in six months and said it will cap the cost of power-station coal in an attempt to reduce outages in coming months.
Wholesale rates charged by coal-fired power plants to distributors, or the on-grid tariff, rose by 0.026 yuan (0.41 cent) a kilowatt-hour, and retail power prices increased by an average 0.03 yuan a kilowatt-hour, effective today, according to a statement on the National Development and Reform Commission website yesterday. Price gains for contract thermal coal next year will be limited to less than 5 percent, it said.
