Should the integrated energy service industry adopt a franchise model?

In terms of the content of the franchise agreement, it is basically based on the original model of the franchise agreement for the municipal utility industry, and no major adjustments have been made. This shows that the content of the existing franchise agreement basically meets the requirements of the integrated energy service business;

In terms of franchise period, the franchise period signed is generally more than 30 years;

In terms of franchise models, 90% adopt the BOT model, and only 10% adopt the PPP model;

In terms of specific project types, distributed energy and integrated energy service projects are the majority, with relatively few incremental distribution projects. The products and services provided by the projects are mainly heating and electricity.

Models of foreign integrated energy service industries

After collecting and analyzing foreign data, we found that the integrated energy service industries in some countries (mainly gas, electricity, and heat companies) have adopted the franchising model in their development process.

First, from the specific practices, in the early stages of development of the gas, electricity and heat industries in countries such as France and the United Kingdom, the market was in the hands of a very small number of monopoly companies. The products and services provided by these companies could not meet the needs of users, so there was a need to increase market competitors.

Under such circumstances, the government adopted a franchise model to allow private capital to enter the energy industry related to people's livelihood, solving the problems of insufficient government financial investment and insufficient market competition.

Secondly, whether the energy industry adopts franchising is closely related to factors such as the country's economic development level, the degree of energy marketization, and the country's energy structure. The United Kingdom and the United States have a high degree of energy marketization and have basically achieved free energy infrastructure for all, so the adoption of a franchising system is not very common.

The marketization of the energy industry in Germany and France is not high. In particular, the emerging integrated energy service market is mostly developed on the basis of the existing gas, power supply and heat industries, and these industries originally mostly adopted the franchise mode. Therefore, in the integrated energy service field of these countries, the franchise mode mainly based on BOT, BOOT, TOT and other models is still widely used.

Finally, the fact that governments allow social capital to operate the energy business through franchising does not mean that the government will just sit back and do nothing. It is just that the government's role has changed from participating in business operations to supervising business operations, formulating and improving laws and regulations, promoting market competition and preventing monopolies.

Suggestions on the adoption of franchise mode in the domestic integrated energy service industry

Energy has a significant impact on social production and social life. Under the inertia of the existing system, the government is extremely cautious about reforming the energy industry, so progress is relatively slow. The usual practice is to delegate power from the central government to local governments, but local governments are not relaxed.

Many people are worried about a reversal of course, and the old path of "chaos when it is released, death when it is closed". Can we avoid repeating the old path, make the market play a fundamental role in allocating resources, and achieve the goal of efficient economic and social development? The premise is that we must patiently cultivate and build a market with a sound system (legal and market systems that match the modern enterprise system), and the speed of government withdrawal must be balanced with the progress of market construction. We must neither leave a vacuum nor let it go and hand over enterprises to the disorderly so-called "free market".

Compared with some other industries, the energy industry is often a component of social public utilities (public service industry) and has a certain degree of monopoly. When designing and building market systems for public utilities, it is necessary to recognize their monopoly characteristics and pay more attention to the incentive effect of market competition to achieve a balance between the two in order to maximize social benefits.

Therefore, implementing a franchise system in the integrated energy service industry characterized by social public utilities is not only an important way to achieve a balance between monopoly and competition, but also the best choice to give full play to the fundamental role of the market in allocating resources.

It should be said that the adoption of the franchising model is not only in line with the characteristics of integrated energy services, but also conducive to giving full play to the positive role of the integrated energy services industry.

1. Building a comprehensive energy franchise mechanism is the key

The market operation mechanism is the soul and function of the market economy. The formation of the integrated energy service market must have a sound operation mechanism. In the production, supply and consumption of integrated energy services, a sound market operation mechanism including supply and demand, competition, price mechanism and entry and exit mechanism must be established to ensure that the integrated energy service market system can operate healthily and effectively. The author believes that, focusing on the requirements of energy development in the new era, giving play to the fundamental role of the market in allocating resources and the key role of effective government supervision, the market operation mechanism of the integrated energy service industry can draw on the military reform idea of ​​"the CMC is in charge of the overall situation, the theater commands are in charge of combat, and the services are in charge of construction", forming a pattern in which the National Energy Commission is in charge of the overall situation, relevant national ministries and commissions are in charge of construction, and local governments are in charge of combat, and efforts are made to build an energy industry development command system of "state-local government-energy enterprise" and a leadership and management system of "state-ministries-local government".

The National Energy Commission is responsible for the overall management, that is, strengthening the central government's centralized and unified leadership, strategic command and strategic management functions over energy production, supply, consumption and technological revolution. It is necessary to thoroughly study the development trend of my country's integrated energy service industry, study the important strategic issues in the development of the integrated energy service industry, correctly foresee future development, plan strategic development ideas, and formulate a top-level design for the integrated energy service industry.

The relevant national ministries and commissions will be responsible for construction, focusing on the core functions of each link in the industrial chain, such as energy industry planning and development, energy production, supply and consumption, equipment manufacturing, technological innovation, engineering construction, and financial services. Laws and regulations and corresponding market rules will be formulated, and the reform idea of ​​streamlining administration and delegating power will be followed. It is sufficient to grasp the planning layout, and the approval of specific projects is not the focus.

Local governments are in charge of the battle, that is, they combine energy production, supply and consumption to present comprehensive and diversified characteristics. We can also adopt the concept of "battle zone is in charge of the battle" and start with the reform of local institutions. Taking the development of new forms of integrated energy services as a starting point, we will implement the reform of local government institutions, integrate traditional energy management institutions such as local power supply, heating and gas supply, set up integrated energy government management departments, concentrate local administrative resources, and uniformly formulate regional integrated energy service development plans. Relying on the mature market-oriented operation mechanism of energy enterprises, we will give full play to the enthusiasm of all parties in the market and coordinate the development of integrated energy services in the region.

2. Give full play to the leading role of comprehensive energy service planning

Integrated energy services span multiple departments such as gas supply, heat supply, and power supply, and involve multiple energy sub-sectors such as electricity, natural gas, biomass, and new energy. It is necessary to coordinate the overall development of integrated energy services through the formulation of development plans. The leading role of planning in the development of integrated energy services should be fully utilized. It is necessary to clarify the development positioning, development requirements, and coordinated development of integrated energy services with other energy infrastructure through the formulation of development plans.

3. Promote the franchise model of integrated energy services

First, it is recommended that relevant departments study and formulate a franchise model text that meets the requirements of market rules, user needs and enterprise characteristics; second, improve the content of the existing franchise agreement text, highlight the agreed content of the franchise agreement on the provision of products and services to users according to the characteristics of integrated energy services, strictly control entry and clarify the exit mechanism. Try to separate terminal sales from the pipeline network link to break the bundled operation model; third, the price of integrated energy products and services should be clearly stipulated in the agreement to solve the problem of cross-subsidy of terminal prices; fourth, actively promote BOT, TOT, BOOT and other franchise models to improve the professional level of integrated energy service operation; fifth, in order to avoid the problem of asset transfer after the franchise, it is appropriate to adopt the method of the government being responsible for asset investment and the enterprise obtaining the right of operation and management during the franchise period; sixth, it is recommended to conduct owner selection activities through the local government procurement platform and try the competitive consultation method to select market entities.