Charges on the use of electricity at peak hours in Beijing will be 0.94 yuan (US$0.11) this summer, more than quadruple the charges in low use periods.

The peak-hour price, the first of its kind, was decided by the Municipal Development and Reform Commission as a measure to alleviate the capital's imminent pressure on the power supply.

Peak hours are 11:00 am-1:00 pm and 8:00 pm-9:00 pm from July to September.

Apart from price adjustments in peak and bottom hours, the commission also decided to stop power supply to industrial users periodically so that no important construction programs related to the 2008 Olympic Games and households will be blacked out.

Meanwhile, the commission called on governmental institutions and citizens to be more aware of power shortage and save as much electricity as possible.

Officials predict the peak-hour electricity demand in Beijing will be 10.7 million kilowatts this year, up 13.5 percent over the same period of last year. A power gap of at least one million kilowatts is predicted.

Although Beijing has planned to invest more than 2 billion yuan (US$242 million) to renovate its power supply networks and coordinate with power grids in other parts of China this year, the country's aggregated power gap is predicted at 20 million kilowatts. The northern part, in particular, will face a power gap of more than 4.2 million kilowatts.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2005)