Over 90% customers in Xinjiang apply for power service online

The latest statistics show that State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. (State Grid Xinjiang Company) has 10.54 million power supply customer in its service area, of which 92.1% apply for power services online, indicating a substantial improvement in customer experience.

Among the company's direct power supply customers, 86,500 are engaged in the primary industry, 276,700 in the secondary, and 947,300 in the tertiary; in terms of residential customers, there are 4,353,400 urban households and 4,878,300 rural households. The number of its direct power supply customers has increased by 45% from 7.29 million at the end of 2015, an average annual growth of 3.8%. The total electricity consumption reached 127.5 TWh in the company’s service area in 2020, up 61% from 79 TWh in 2015, an average annual growth of 4.9%.

Power transmission lines crossing the valley at Karakorum Mountains

In recent years, State Grid Xinjiang Company has been accelerating the grid construction, promoting grid overhaul and upgrade, and implementing a specific campaign named “Getting Electricity” to improve its service quality. As a result, the company has significantly improved its power supply capacity and services, boosted the number of customers, and increased the volume of electricity consumption.

Data show that the company has invested a cumulative amount of RMB 73.52 billion during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. It has built a main grid structure that supplies electricity to customers both in Xinjiang and beyond, and implemented a new round of rural grid overhaul which involves grid upgrading in 748 small towns (core villages) and supplying power to 992 natural villages, and has consequently enhanced the reliability of power supply and the rate of voltage eligibility.

To provide better services to rural residents, State Grid Xinjiang Company has invested RMB 31.2 billion in upgrading the rural grid and building over 100,000 km rural transmission lines, bringing the distribution and transformation capacity per household up to 2.2 kVA, higher than the national average. In 2020, rural residential electricity consumption in Xinjiang was 5.354 TWh, up 118% from 2015, an average annual increase of 17%.

Tianshan Xuelian Party member service team of State Grid Urumqi Power Supply Company is visiting a customer at a scenic area

Promoting live-line work is one of the main measures to improve power supply reliability. In 2020, State Grid Xinjiang Company has cumulatively conducted 27,813 times of live-line work, and reduced outage time by 2,659,600 hour-household, the average outage time per customer decreased 9.59 hours/household, on YOY basis. 

According to Li Yan, an economist responsible for power bill and tariff at the Marketing Department of State Grid Xinjiang Company, the company has adopted various measures to improve customer experience in recent years, including creating new service modes and enhancing service quality. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the company launched a program to replace old meters with smart meters. At present, 5.77 million active customers are purchasing electricity online in Xinjiang, accounting for nearly 60% of the total.

State Grid Xinjiang Company has been promoting its online businesses, including application for new electricity connection, code-scanning for paying bill, and signing e-contract for power supply and consumption, which enabled customers to get electricity online without having to go to service counters.