Comment by seanmcdirmid

Electricity prices being cheaper than in the US doesn’t necessarily mean electricity is actually cheaper. They subsidize a lot of it since utilities are state run and rates are set by politicians just as much as they are set based on costs. Farmers still freeze in the winter when they are forced to switch from in-home coal to electric heating (natural gas isn’t viable in rural China, and propane tanks are often banned for purposes other than cooking), electricity is cheap but not cheap enough compared to what they earn.