China's Zhejiang Province Implements Punitive Electricity Prices for Crypto Mining

The eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang said it is introducing punitive electricity prices for crypto miners, following in the footsteps of the Hainan province and Inner Mongolia region even as authorities work to eliminate the industry, which was banned last year.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body, proposed punitive electricity prices for crypto miners in November.
The NDRC's Zhejiang branch and the local agency of the national grid operator jointly published a notice on Feb. 14 saying crypto miners would have to pay an additional RMB 0.5 ($0.79) per kilowatt hour (kWh). The notice also called on government entities and grid operators to strengthen their monitoring for crypto mining activity. The notice was dated Feb. 11, meaning it was probably passed around government departments and key stakeholders before being posted online.
In December, the southern island of Hainan introduced an RMB 0.8 per kWh surcharge for miners, CCTV reported. Inner Mongolia added RMB 1.0 per kWh starting in January.
An official from the Zhejiang Government Service Center told reporters on Tuesday that crypto mining is still prohibited. The official was responding to confusion among some Chinese internet users, who had speculated the introduction of higher costs meant mining was allowed, China Times reported.
Chinese central government bodies issued their starkest and most comprehensive ban on crypto mining and trading in September. Crypto mining was included in a list of industries to be eliminated in October. But provincial authorities and agencies are still trying to implement the ban.
The electricity premium is a supporting punishment to the ban, the Zhejiang official said yesterday, according to China Times.
Also yesterday, authorities in Beijing's neighboring province of Shandong, called on citizens to report on suspected mining activity through hotlines.
In October, authorities in Zhejiang busted a graphics processing unit (GPU) mining operation at a government facility after screening 4,699 internet protocol addresses.

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Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi is CoinDesk's crypto mining reporter.

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