Four of the five major Chinese electricity groups posted a drop in their energy output in the first half year as the government embarked on a reform of the industry, leading to predictions of a loss in earnings.
China Huaneng Group's electricity output lost 5.9 percent from the same period last year to 288.7 billion kilowatt-hours while China Datang Corporation's fell 4.11 percent, China Huadian Corporation's dropped 1.54 percent and China Guodian Corporation's shed 2.01 percent. These four companies have pumped around 200 billion kilowatt-hours each.
The Chinese government has accelerated electricity reform in the past half year, cutting prices and upgrading the energy consumption structure. Coal-powered energy has been reduced to allow clean energy such as nuclear, solar and hydroelectricity to replace it.
Analysts said these companies lost money also due to the tumble in prices of electricity. The four groups haven't disclosed their financial results for the past half year yet.
The average electricity price charged by Huaneng in the first half year was 394.36 yuan ($59.4) per megawatt-hour, down 12.37 percent from a year ago.
Meanwhile, the figure charged by Guodian was 343.35 yuan per megawatt-hour, a decline of 8.7 percent annually.
