This Day, That Year: Jan 16

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Jan 16, 1997, China State Power Corp was established in Beijing, a move regarded as an important step in the separation of the functions of government and business. Before, the electric power sector had been controlled by the Ministry of Electric Power, which was phased out a year after CSPC was established.

An item from China Daily on Dec 18, 1999, showed the opening of the South China Power Grid under CSPC.

To end CSPC's monopoly of the power sector, the State Council, China's Cabinet, dismantled it in 2002 and set up 11 smaller companies, including State Grid Corp of China.

State Grid was founded in December 2002. It is now the world's largest utility company, and as of last year, the world's second-largest company by revenue.

To meet the nation's fast-growing energy demand, authorities initiated electricity sector reforms to overhaul the antiquated system and achieve new energy security and environmental objectives.

The nation plans to reduce the share of power generated by coal from more than 70 percent in 2017 to 40 percent by 2030, and raise the proportions provided by nuclear power and renewable energy.

As part of the broad reform of the energy sector, in 2017, coal miner Shenhua Group and China Guodian Corp merged to form China Energy Investment Corp, the world's largest utility provider by capacity.

As the world's largest generator of electricity, China is also the world's second-largest consumer, after the United States.

From January to November last year, the country's total electricity consumption was 6.22 trillion kilowatt-hours, a rise of 8.47 percent year-on-year, according to the National Energy Administration.

The administration said China generated a record 6.16 trillion kWh in the first 11 months of last year, a rise of 6.9 percent year-on-year.

The shortfall between power generated and demand was made up by imported power, and other means, such as factories operating their own generators.