Power rationing and forced cuts to factory production in China are widening amid electricity supply issues and a push to enforce environmental regulations.  The curbs have expanded to more than 10 provinces, including economic powerhouses Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, the 21st Century Business Herald reported Friday. Several companies have reported the impacts of power curbs in filings on mainland stock exchanges.

Local governments are ordering the power cuts as they try to avoid missing targets for reducing energy and emissions intensity. The country’s top economic planner last month flagged nine provinces for increasing intensity over the first half of the year amid a strong economic rebound from the pandemic.

Meanwhile record high coal prices are making it unprofitable for many power plants to operate, creating supply gaps in some provinces, the Business Herald reported. If those gaps expand the impact could be worse than power curtailments that hit parts of the country during the summer

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