China's central government needs a more powerful agency to oversee the country's energy sector, Friday's China Daily quoted industrial experts as saying.
Currently the government has an Energy Bureau under the ministry-level National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Critics said the Energy Bureau, which only has a dozen staff members, is too weak and inferior to oversee an energy industry that has total assets of more than 10 trillion yuan (1.2 trillion US dollars).
China set up the Ministry of Energy in 1988 but it was dismissed five years later because its administrative function overlapped with other departments such as the then State Development Planning Commission.
The ministry was pointless to some extent as big oil, power and coal companies also enjoyed administrative power at that time.
Facing increasing energy shortages, the government set up an Energy Bureau under the NDRC during reform of the administration in March 2003.
But the bureau failed to curb the widespread energy crunch that broke out in late 2002.
More than two-thirds of the country's territory has now suffered frequent blackouts. Coal mines cannot keep up with the surging demand, while oil imports is rocketing as the nation becomes the second-largest oil consumer in the world.
Industrial experts and officials said the bureau was not powerful enough to co-ordinate relations between different sectors such as coal and power. The two sectors fight frequently over coal prices, with many power plants running out of coal stocks and shutting down.
"In most cases, the Energy Bureau is incapable of coordinating relations," said Wu Zhongwu, a senior researcher with Energy Research Institute.
The bureau is crippled because much of the administrative power in the energy industry is scattered between different government organs, Wu said.
The pricing department of the NDRC, for example, is in charge of setting energy prices, while the transport department oversees oil and coal transport.
Oil and coal imports and exports as well as management of the oil markets are controlled by the Ministry of Commerce, while the Ministry of Land and Resources steers resource exploration.
Zhu Chengzhang, a veteran energy expert, said the bureau lacks the staff and experts needed to handle such a big industry.
The bureau only has 20 some personnel compared with more than 1, 000 employees in the Ministry of Energy in the United States.
The Energy Bureau is overwhelmed with specific issues such as project approval, but neglects more important issues such as strategic planning, Zhu said.
"It should study what kind of economy we will develop, what kind of energy we should use, how much should be imported, what are the possibilities for imports.... These are strategic issues that need to be thought through," Zhu said.
Critics also said the bureau is too inferior, in terms of official ranking, to connect with other countries to resolve China 's imports.
Experts are stressing the need to set up a more senior level energy department, either an Energy Ministry or an Energy Committee, to oversee the industry.
"The power needs to be consolidated into one higher-level government department," Huan Guoyu, a researcher with a thinktank of the State Council Office for Restructuring the Economic System, was quoted as saying. "It is conducive for China to form a constant long-term energy policy."
But experts agreed that to reform the administration will be a touchy issue. It is difficult to reshuffle the current administration and consolidate power.