BEIJING, Jan. 7 -- Seven provinces and regions in eastern and central China have reported power rationing and Beijing declared an emergency due to the gas shortage after the new cold snap gripped much of China, resulting in soaring energy demand as coal supplies were already tight in most of the areas struck by the severe winter weather.

    The China Meteorological Administration issued a cold-snap warning on Tuesday, saying temperatures in northern China had plummeted to minus 20 and 32 degrees Celsius, and the temperature in central China, including Hubei and Jiangxi provinces and the eastern coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, nudged close to minus 8 and minus 5 degrees Celsius respectively.

    It forecast that the cold weather would continue through the week, with a possible further snowfall in Beijing on Friday.

    The icy weather has pushed up power and gas demand to new peaks while transport of coal from north to south has been hampered by heavy snowfalls in the north, driving up the already high price of coal.

    A total of 349 power plants across the country registered more than 2.4 million tons of coal consumption per day, with coal reserves meeting only a 10- day demand and for some plants only a three-day demand.

    Coal producers had begun charging up to 25 percent more per ton than last year, while in Guangdong users were forced to pay 30 percent more per ton, the Guangdong Daily reported.

    In eastern China, the maximum power generation capacity in Jiangsu Province has reached 46.78 million kilowatts, setting a new record for power use in winter.

    As most provinces in southern China have no central heating, residents increasingly rely on air conditioning and electric radiators to keep warm, further pushing up power consumption.

    The central China power grid for the first time reported a higher power use in winter than in summer. In Jiangxi Province, the maximum power generation capacity registered a record number of 11 all-time highs.

    Coal reserves for power generation dropped to 1 million tons, well below the level required to cope with the winter cold, which is 2.3 million tons.

    Two 60-megawatt thermal power-generating units at Ezhou Power Plant in Hubei Province tripped on Monday and Tuesday.

    An official with the Hubei State Grid Company told the Global Times that the current energy situation, marked by a lack of coal and water, contributes to such severe power shortages.

    "The supply of coal is short nationwide this year," she said, adding things could get better around April when river waters are high enough to generate more power.

    In order to prevent blackouts, power authorities in Hubei decided to ration power for industry, with a focus on guaranteeing the power supply to residential areas, hospitals, schools, financial institutions and key transport hubs.

    Six other provinces and regions including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hebei, Hunan, Jiangxi provinces and Chongqing Municipality have also reported power cuts, resulting in the disruption of production and complaints from residents.

    Liu Guoquan, manager of the Hubei Ezhou Cement Company, told the Global Times that his company was affected by the power rationing.

    "At a time when we are expecting robust business in the first half of the year, the rationing means we lose more than 100,000 yuan (14,649 U.S. dollars) each month because of production decline," he said.

    According to Liu, rationing was based on production capabilities, profits or scale.

    A Jiangsu resident surnamed Zhou, who uses air conditioning to heat her apartment, told the Global Times that she hoped the local government could better learn about the public's needs before rationing power.

    Her province is mulling the rationing of power, she said, the basic threshold is 80 kilowatt-hours per month.

    "That figure is far from enough, especially for those who are living with elderly people," she said.

    In Beijing, the heavy snowfall drove the temperature to minus 16 C, a record low in 40 years, straining the gas supply.

    Heat-supply authorities decided to limit the supply to public buildings, shopping malls, office buildings and industry and urged residents to restrain gas use.

    From Tuesday, hotels and shopping malls that use gas for heating were required to maintain 13 C indoors and other public buildings 5 C at weekends. Some malls, where a reduced temperature is required, have begun using thermal door curtains to keep the cold out.

    "Apparently, local governments have not been well prepared to cope with the extreme weather, which put huge pressure on the power supply and gas shortage in urban and rural areas," Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, said.

    Ding Yifan, a senior researcher at the Institute of National Development of the State Council, said that the recent crackdown on illegal coalmines in Shanxi Province, a curb on the national output and the flawed allocation of coal resources resulted in the strain on power generation during cold weather.

    "The government advocated cutting down the use of coal in order to reduce the emission of CO2, but the replacement energy, such as nuclear power, has not been put in place," he said.

    He stressed that a sufficient reserve of coal and gas is the key to addressing sudden soaring demand for energy and it is urgent to develop alternative energy and diversify the supply channel.

    The coal-rich country has been trying to diversify its energy sources in recent years, including building pipelines from central Asia, buying oil from the Middle East and Africa, encouraging the development of wind and solar power plants, and increasing the number of nuclear power plants.

    (Source: Global Times)