Household utilities bills go up.

Windfall-profit taxes levied on coal and oil companies.

And exporters who make products that guzzle energy in the manufacturing process are discouraged.

All these scenarios will be played out in the coming years as the nation's top policy-making body deregulates prices of resources and makes energy consumption more productive.

Shortage of resources amid rapid industrialization is forcing the National Reform and Development Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance to consider letting the markets dictate rates for utilities and taxing inefficient use.

That was the message on the weekend from a group of high-ranking officials, which will be incorporated in the national development blueprint for the next 15 years.

Zhao Xiaoping, director of the NDRC's Pricing Department, said prices of products such as oil and coal would be liberalized soon by subjecting them to market forces.

Deregulation is slated for land use, water, coal, oil, electricity, gas and other resource-related products, said Zhao, which means bills for household utilities would go up.

"Our goal is to let prices reflect how scarce they are," said Zhao.

At a high-level forum on industry deregulation held earlier this month, vice premier Zeng Peiyan is reported to have agreed on the reform strategy.

Zhao's department, which is charged with supervising the prices of goods and services that are of special importance to people's lives and national economic security, organized the forum.

Industry experts said the deregulation is likely to increase prices which are lower than abroad of resources, and expressed concern that it could have a cascading effect on other goods and services and cause difficulties for low-income earners and vulnerable social groups.

For the energy industry, said Lou Jiwei, vice minister of finance, the government's new measures include resource tax, windfall-profit tax and higher land-utilization fees.

"We will collect windfall-profit taxes in some monopolized sectors within two years," said Lou.

In the oil sector, Lou said, any amount higher than, say, US$40, could be considered a windfall profit and taxed accordingly.

The government will also increase resource utilization fees.

For example, mine owners are charged only 1,000 yuan (US$120) annually for 1 square kilometer. "The government should raise that by a big margin," said Lou but did not reveal by how much.

Measures will be taken to discourage exports of products which use too much energy, said Yang Weimin, another NDRC official.

Ma Kai, NDRC minister, said conserving energy and resources by raising their prices is vital to sustain China's growing economy.

The country's top leaders have set two goals for the next five years: one is to double per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000 by 2010 and the other is to reduce energy costs per unit of GDP by 20 percent.

Some experts described the deregulation as "another milestone" in China's market-oriented reform.

Since the reform and opening-up policies began in the late 1970s, the prices of most commodities and services have been deregulated; and now, market forces play a role in setting the prices of about 90 percent.

(China Daily November 14, 2005)