Thermal power plants seek govt help amid debt

Eleven thermal power enterprises based in Southwest China's Sichuan Province are turning to government amid a debt crisis, according to a domestic media report on Monday.

On August 7, the companies approached officials of the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the provincial energy supervision office and the Sichuan Energy Bureau to ask for help, the China Energy News said on Monday.

The 11 companies have a total installed gross capacity of about 12 million kilowatts, accounting for three-fourths of Sichuan's total thermal power capacity, the report said.

It quoted the head of one plant as saying that since 2016, his plant has been in a recession and the plant's debt ratio is close to 100 percent.

The person said that the plant faces a dilemma: if it generates power, it will lose money but if it stops generating power the local grid will be affected and that will affect residents' daily lives.

The report also cited the representative of another plant as saying that since the start of this year, the financing costs of local thermal power enterprises have risen by 20 percent to 30 percent on average, and that has made the situation even worse for many plants.

According to the representative, some local thermal power plants can't get loans anywhere, even at high interest rates, and in some cases banks are asking early repayment of previous loans.

The report noted that the thermal power sector in Sichuan is losing money across the board, with some plants' debt ratio even surpassing 150 percent.

According to the report, those plants are seeking government help such as subsidies and guaranteed coal supplies.