Is the energy consumption dual-control the main reason for electricity restrictions in China?

Since September, more than 20 provinces in China have seen power supply restrictions, affecting the electricity consumption of both production companies and residents. Some analysts say this is the follow up measures of the energy consumption and intensity dual-control results, which requires provinces that haven’t meet energy intensity reduction targets to shut down energy-intensive and emission-intensive enterprises in order to carry out recti􀊱cation. Some provinces are indeed under pressure to meet their dual control targets, and specific local governments had restricted electricity last year to tackle the issue. But the energy consumption dual-control is not the main cause of the power supply restriction for this time, and will not impact on people’s livelihoods. For instance, the problem has been most pronounced in the northeast, where load shortfalls have been as high as 10-20% during specific short period of time. However, there is very little pressure to complete the energy consumption dual-control targets in the northeast region. The main reasons include: 1) the expansion of production by manufacturers after the epidemic have pulled up electricity demand; 2) soaring coal prices and the inability to transmit increased costs to users has led to a reduction in the motivation of thermal power plants to generate electricity.