China needs to upgrade its power grids, particularly in the vast rural areas, in order to secure electricity supplies and promote low-carbon energy conservation, said a deputy yesterday at the country's annual parliamentary session.

Zhong Yanmin is general manager of TBEA Hengyang Transformer Co., Ltd. [Wang Ke / China.org.cn]

According to Zhong Yanmin, general manager of TBEA Hengyang Transformer Co., Ltd. in Hunan Province, the government's subsidy policy resulted in sales of more than 34.3 million electrical home appliances in rural areas last year. However, this dramatically boosted rural electricity demands and the capacity of the rural power grids does not match the growing power consumption.

"In 2009, the total fiscal input reached more than 105 billion US dollars, up by nearly 18 billion. It is certain that the increase of this year in rural areas will be much higher than the overall increase in China's fiscal input," said Tang Renjian, deputy director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, as quoted by China Radio International in February.

"China has the world's largest power grids and now it's time to upgrade its rural networks and promote a low-carbon life," Zhong said.