70 years ago, the country's annual electricity consumption is only enough for 6 hours now

China Energy Storage Network: The changes in electricity consumption over the past 70 years reflect the progress of society, the improvement of people's lives, and the huge improvement in power supply security capabilities.

"Electricity and telephones upstairs and downstairs" was the aspiration of ordinary Chinese families for a better life in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Electrification was regarded as an important symbol to measure the achievements of socialist construction at that time.

Numbers are the most faithful recorders. The growth of electricity consumption figures presents the great changes in the mountains and rivers of the motherland and the leap in the quality of life of the people in front of the eyes of today's people, stringing together scattered memories like pearls. Groups of numbers and stories present a close logical relationship, truly showing the construction, development, and take-off of the great motherland, and the improvement, stability, and happiness of people's lives.

70 years ago, the country's annual electricity consumption is only enough for 6 hours now

Liu Yuanping, who lives in Jingning County, Zhejiang Province, has a deep impression of the years without electricity. "Before the founding of New China, there was no electricity in our area. Rich people lit kerosene, while poor people used tinder. One night, my grandfather lit a tinder and it caught fire, and the whole house was burned down."

When Liu Yuanping was in primary school, villagers used homemade kerosene lamps for lighting. After finishing homework every night, Liu Yuanping's nostrils were smoked black. Later, Liu Yuanping went to middle school in the commune and used bright electric lights. His village also had electric wires, but due to the tight power supply, power outages were common. Around the 1990s, farmers in Jingning County all used stable and safe electricity.

Liu Yuanping's personal experience is very universal, and it is more convincing when expressed in numbers.

In 1949, the country's total electricity consumption was only 4.9 billion kWh, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of a medium-sized county today. In 1978, this figure reached 249.8 billion kWh, and in 1996 it exceeded 1 trillion kWh, ranking second in the world. In 2011, China's total electricity consumption ranked first in the world. This is the first time that the title of "champion" in total electricity consumption has been won by a country other than the United States since the advent of electricity. By 2018, China's total electricity consumption reached a record 6.9 trillion kWh, 1,408 times that of 1949, with an average annual growth rate of 10.91%. Today, the country's electricity consumption in just over 6 hours is equal to the annual electricity consumption in 1949.

Behind the changes in total electricity consumption, per capita electricity consumption can better reflect people's true feelings: in 1952, my country's per capita electricity consumption was only 11 kWh, in 1962 it was 56 kWh, by 1978, my country's per capita electricity consumption reached 261 kWh, and in 2000 it exceeded 1,000 kWh, reaching 1,067 kWh. In 2006, per capita electricity consumption entered the 2,000 kWh stage, in 2010, per capita electricity consumption exceeded 3,000 kWh, and in 2014, my country's per capita electricity consumption ranked among the 4,000 kWh. By 2018, my country's per capita electricity consumption reached 4,945 kWh, 18.95 times that of 1978 and 449.55 times that of 1952, far exceeding the world average.

Entering the new century, with the completion of a series of key projects, Liu Yuanping clearly remembers that the days when Jingning County used fire bamboo and kerosene lamps for lighting are gone forever, and household appliances such as televisions, computers, air conditioners, and microwave ovens have entered the homes of ordinary people.

Power supply services continue to improve, bringing a better electricity experience

Both urban distribution networks and rural power grids have made great progress. In the 70 years since the founding of New China, China has experienced a transformation from "having access to electricity" to "using electricity well".

The safety of the power grid is related to the long-term stability of the country and the people's livelihood. "Access to electricity" is only the starting point, and "using electricity well" is more critical. How do ordinary electricity users feel that the power grid is safer? Let's look at a set of data: In 2005, within the power supply range of the State Grid Corporation of China, the reliability rate of urban power supply was 99.755%, and the average power outage time per household was 21 hours per year. In 2018, within the power supply range of the company, the reliability rate of urban power supply has reached 99.955%, and the average power outage time per household has dropped to 4 hours per year.

Since its establishment, especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, the company has built a power grid development planning system supported by the main grid, distribution network, communication network and intelligent planning, and has increased its investment in distribution network construction and transformation year by year, achieving remarkable results in the development of distribution network. At present, the power supply reliability rate of distribution network in the core areas of Beijing Financial Street, Shanghai Lujiazui and other cities has reached 99.9999%, and the average power outage time per household is less than 0.5 minutes, which is comparable to the power supply reliability rate of distribution network in the main urban areas of Singapore and Tokyo during the same period.

The improvement in service quality also brings better electricity usage experience to the people.

On November 6, 2018, Pan Mingliang, a resident of Ningbo, Zhejiang, downloaded "Dian E Bao", registered with his real name, and completed the settlement of photovoltaic electricity bills. The photovoltaic power station on Pan Mingliang's roof has been connected to the grid for nearly a year. Since then, he has been able to check the photovoltaic power station electricity bill details, electricity subsidy and other information for the current month and the past six months with just his mobile phone. This is one of the means by which the power supply company continues to deepen the "one-stop" power supply service. By reducing links and time, it makes it easier and more time-saving for customers to apply for and use electricity.

In Chengdu, Sichuan, the new grid-based power supply service model of "integration of operations and terminals" has significantly improved the quality of service. Under the grid-based management and district-based service model, the quality of power supply services and work efficiency have been significantly improved. Taking Jinjiang District and Chenghua District as examples, since the pilot of the grid-based service model, the power supply service radius has been shortened to 2.5 kilometers, the average 10 kV power connection time has dropped by 21 days, and the average repair time of fault repair work orders has been shortened by 13.6%.

The electricity business environment is optimized to enhance the sense of gain of customers

With the development of the economy and society, small and micro enterprises, as an important force in the national economy, have played an important role in stabilizing growth, expanding employment, prospering the market, and meeting the multi-level needs of the people.

Providing better electricity services to small and micro enterprises is an important mission of power supply companies.

On October 31, 2018, the World Bank released the latest version of the Doing Business report. Among the world's 190 economies, China's global ranking of business environment has rapidly jumped from 78th in 2017 to 46th. This is the best ranking China has achieved in the 16 years since the World Bank's Doing Business report was released.

Among the ten indicators of the business environment evaluation system, China's "Access to Electricity" index scored 92.01 points, a significant increase of 23.18 points over the previous year, and the index ranking jumped from 115th in 2012 to 14th.

Before the May Day holiday this year, the power connection process of Shanghai Yuantong Hotel Management Co., Ltd., located on Wubao Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, took only 12 days, so it "accidentally" caught up with the May Day tourist flow and opened for business ahead of schedule. What surprised Jiang Chun, the hotel project manager, was that the hotel did not have to pay a penny for the entire power connection construction process. "A total of more than 500,000 yuan was saved. If you calculate it more carefully, you didn't have to go to the business hall once, and the transportation and time costs were saved a lot!" Jiang Chun said.

This is mainly due to the company's comprehensive optimization of the business environment and the improvement of the quality and efficiency of business expansion and registration. The company organized provincial and municipal power companies to innovate and launch "access to electricity" reform measures in expanding business channels, optimizing registration service processes, and improving on-site service quality, reducing links, time, and costs, significantly reducing the time for small and micro enterprises to apply for electricity, and improving the level of power supply services.

Everyone's fate is tied to the development of the motherland. The changes in people's electricity use over the past 70 years reflect the path the Republic has taken. With electricity experience as a symbol, every electricity user's electricity experience will become better and better, and the electricity environment will become better and better.