(Yicai) May 14 -- Staff at branches of State Grid Corporation of China have denied rumors that the country’s largest power grid operator will make electricity more costly for households in various cities, including Shanghai, a media report said.

An employee at State Grid’s national service center said it had not received any notice about price changes, news website Jiemian reported yesterday. When prices are adjusted, power suppliers usually announce them through State Grid’s official channels, so people should refer to those, the person added.

Household electricity prices will not change in Hubei province, according to a customer service representative at State Grid’s local branch there. A worker from the company’s Jiangsu provincial office said the information spreading online is just a rumor.

Shanghai will not see any household power price changes, the staffer at State Grid’s national service center noted.

In China, electricity prices are classified into three categories: residential, agricultural, and industrial and commercial use. Different standards are implemented nationwide for households, involving ‘tiered pricing’ and ‘time-of-use pricing.’

Tiered pricing has multiple levels of power consumption and calculates charges based on segmented or graded pricing, while time-of-use pricing divides days into time periods and charges differently for each period.

Shanghai households are charged based on tiered pricing with time-of-use pricing overlaid. Peak hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and off-peak hours are 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The three tiers are zero to 3,120 kilowatt-hours,  3,120 kWh to 4,800 kWh, and more than 4,800 kWh per year.

Shanghai residents in the first tier spend 61.7 Chinese cents (14 US cents) per kWh during peak hours and 30.7 Chinese cents per kWh during off-peak hours. Those in the second and third tiers spend 67.7 Chinese cents and 97.7 Chinese cents per kWh, respectively, during peak hours and 33.7 Chinese cents and 48.7 Chinese cents per kWh, respectively, during off-peak hours.

According to the online rumors, Shanghai will hike prices from June 1, changing from power use based on peak and off-peak hours to five time slots. Using electricity in the city between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. and between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. would cost CNY1.08 (15 US cents) per kWh, between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. and between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. would cost 68 Chinese cents per kWh, and between 12 a.m. and 8 a.m. would cost 31 Chinese cents per kWh.

For residents in some areas of China, power prices change in summer, but these are regular seasonal adjustments. For example, Guangdong province charges households based on summer standards between May and October and non-summer standards between November and April.

Editor: Futura Costaglione