The purpose of this Law is to lay down the general principles of the construction, production, supply and utilization of the electric power, and to ensure and promote the development of the electric power, protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors, entrepreneurs and users of electric power and maintain the safe services of electric power.
The Law is divided into 10 Chapters: General Provisions (I); Electric Power Construction (II); Electric Power Production and Electric Network Management (III); Supply and Utilization of Electricity (IV); Electricity Price and Electricity Fee (V); Rural Electric Power Construction and Agricultural Use of Electricity (VI); Protection of Electric Facilities (VII); Supervision and Inspection (VIII); Legal Responsibilities (IX); Supplementary Provisions (X).
Electric facilities shall be under the protection of the State. It is forbidden for any unit or person to damage the electric facilities or unlawfully seize or use electric energy (art. 4). The department of electric power administration of the State Council shall be in charge of the supervision and control of the electric power throughout the country (art. 6). The State encourages and supports electricity generation by using renewable and clean sources of energy (art. 5). Plans for electric power development shall be drawn up in light of the needs of the national economic and social development and shall be included in the plans for national economic and social development (art. 10). The people's government at or above the county level shall, when distributing electricity quotas, guarantee proper proportion of electricity for use in agriculture and in the rural areas, giving first priority to rural use of electricity for draining water-logged fields and combating drought as well as for seasonal agricultural production (art. 49). The remaining articles of this Law make provision, inter alia, for obligations of electricity suppliers, restrictions on the use of electrical products, and offences and penalties.