Recently, the State New Office held a regular briefing on the reform and upgrading of rural power grids by the State Council. Qi Chengyuan, deputy director of the State Energy Administration, said at the meeting that a central investment plan of 36.1 billion yuan for the upgrading of rural power grids in 2019 had been issued this year, of which 14 billion yuan had been invested in the central budget, all of which were used in poor areas.

Qi Chengyuan said that rural power grid is an important infrastructure in rural areas, and upgrading of rural power grid is an important livelihood project. In 2016, the State Energy Administration launched a new round of rural power grid upgrading. From 2016 to 2017, it concentrated on completing the "three major projects", namely, rural power grid upgrading project in central villages of small towns, power transmission project in rural machinery wells and power transmission project in poor villages.

Among them, the renovation and upgrading project of rural power network in central villages of small towns involves 78,000 villages in 30 provinces (districts and municipalities), benefiting 160 million rural residents; the project of rural power supply for mechanical wells is 1.6 million, involving 17 provinces (districts) and more than 10,000 townships of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, benefiting 150 million mu of farmland; the project of power supply for poor villages is 33,000 natural villages. About 8 million people live in poverty-stricken villages.

At present, the Energy Bureau is stepping up the implementation of the three-year plan of action (2018-2020) of "three districts, three states" and the two major rural network upgrading in Daibian Village to further promote this basic and livelihood work.

Qi Chengyuan pointed out that in accordance with the requirements of the Central Economic Working Conference, the Report on Government Work and the plan of the Standing Meeting of the State Council, a new round of rural power network upgrading should be completed this year, one year ahead of the original plan. To ensure the completion of the task, the State Energy Administration will continue to intensify its efforts to continuously promote the upgrading of rural power grids.

One is to refine the target tasks. According to the documents of the State Council, the reliability of power supply, the qualified rate of comprehensive voltage and the average capacity of household distribution transformer should be defined in provincial units. Convening national teleconference, issuing special documents for specific deployment, putting forward clear requirements, and implementing the objectives and tasks.

The second is to consolidate the responsibilities at all levels. Connect with the provincial energy authorities and power grid enterprises, formulate detailed plans, clarify the division of responsibilities, refine work objectives, and put forward specific measures. Increase investment efforts, this year issued a central investment plan of 36.1 billion yuan for upgrading the rural power grid in 2019, of which 14 billion yuan was invested in the central budget, all for poor areas, while urging grid enterprises and local governments to increase investment.

Third, we should strengthen supervision and inspection. Set up the dispatching mechanism, sort out the situation of each place regularly, find out the problems and solve them in time. Strengthen supervision, especially in remote and poor areas and local power grid supply areas, strengthen guidance and supervision, and promote the implementation of the work.

Fourthly, we should strengthen the service capacity, and at the same time promote the upgrading of rural power grids, we should adopt the way of point-to-area, comprehensive promotion and overall promotion to further shorten the time for enterprises to obtain electricity and optimize the business environment. Establish the monitoring and evaluation system of power supply in rural power grid, urge power grid enterprises to incorporate well power into their daily service scope, and improve the general service level of rural power. Each energy regulatory agency dispatched this year will focus on the completion of the transformation and upgrading of rural power grids, vigorously strengthen routine supervision, and ensure that all work is carried out in accordance with the plan with high quality.