Assessment On Electricity-saving Potential Among China’s Interprovincial Manufacturing Sectors

For the electricity market of China, despite the fact that the power generation market is competitive, the transmission and distribution sectors are relatively unified markets; on the other hand, while some inter-regional trade barriers exist, inter-regional trade and industry division have been on a larger scale with the continuous depth of regional economic integration in recent years. Therefore, the "electricity-saving pressure" and "electricity-saving potential" needs to be established on the unified national electricity market and inter-provincial commodities market. Different provinces and manufacturing sectors possess varying degrees of cost-and technology transition-pressures. Which manufacturing sectors and which provinces will be mostly affected by rising electricity prices in China?Based on the background mentioned above, the paper obeys the clue that "put forward the problem-analyze the problem-solve the problem" and systematically and clearly defines electricity-saving potential among provinces. First, the Provincial Electricity-saving potential were specifically and clearly defined. And then, under the background of the unified electricity price market in Chinese electricity market and the domestic market characteristics, an inter-regional input output model is adopted. And this paper compares the relative electricity price sensitivity and electricity demand elasticity which respectively represent the static electricity-saving pressure and dynamic electricity-saving potential in 11 manufacturing sectors in 30 provincial-level regions. Furthermore, taking Hunan Province as a specific case, from the perspective of regional externalities, this paper comprehensively assesses the external energy-saving effect region of the manufacturing sectors in Hunan Province, and provides important theoretical support and formulation basis for the correct understanding of energy-saving contribution from the manufacturing sector and relevant policies in Hunan Province.The results show that industries such as metal smelting and manufactory of metal products, oil processing and chemical, provinces such as Tianjin, Hebei, Jilin, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shaanxi and Shandong are more sensitive to increasing electricity price and have a relative higher electricity-saving potential. Furthermore, electricity-saving characters are various depending on the different industries and different regions. The results on the specific case of Hunan Province show that:the external electricity-saving effects among regions and industry sectors are different; On the one hand, the cement, glass and ceramics, and iron, steel refining and processing, and non-ferrous metal refining and processing, and basic chemical raw materials manufacturing are the key sectors when the energy-saving technology of the relative sectors improved. On the other hand, Henan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Jiangxi are the key regions where the external electricity-saving effects of Hunan Province concentrate. Finally, the paper puts forward several corresponding policy recommendations for the government from the aspects of country, province and industry.