Problems and Countermeasures of cost control in waste incineration power generation enterprises

I. waste incineration power generation enterprise cost project
waste incineration power generation enterprises conduct harmless, reduction and resource treatment of domestic waste through incineration. At the same time, superheated steam generated in the process of waste incineration is generated through steam turbine generator for power generation. The waste incineration system consists of waste receiving system, combustion system, flue gas purification system, steam turbine power generation system, water treatment system and other systems. The main cost items are as follows:
(1) Fuel and power cost
Fuel cost mainly refers to the fuel used during startup, shutdown and auxiliary combustion of waste incinerator, such as natural gas and diesel oil. Power cost refers to the energy medium purchased to ensure production and operation, including domestic water, production water, purchased electricity, etc.
(2) Environmental protection cost
It refers to the treatment fee paid for the standard discharge of various pollutants in the process of waste incineration power generation. Specifically:
1. sewage treatment fee
Sewage treatment fee refers to the sewage treatment fee for leachate, concentrated liquid and other sewage generated in the process of garbage treatment. Including chemicals used, consumed materials and spare parts, process maintenance fees paid and other fees. Such as hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, scale inhibitor, flocculant, reducing agent, cleaning agent and other chemical reagents, spare parts for equipment maintenance and replacement, and regular maintenance costs.
2. expenses incurred by flue gas purification system
The cost of the flue gas purification system is the operation cost of the flue gas purification system. Including chemicals used, consumed materials and spare parts, process maintenance fees paid and other fees. Such as urea, hydrated lime, activated carbon and other chemical reagents; Cloth bags for dust removal, spare parts for equipment maintenance and replacement, and regular maintenance costs.
3. expenses incurred from harmless treatment
The costs of fly ash, slag and sludge generated in the process of waste incineration and the self harmless treatment include system maintenance costs, materials, spare parts, chemicals and other costs consumed in the treatment process. The environmental protection fee does not include environmental protection tax, mainly because the newly issued notice on clarifying the application of taxable pollutants in environmental protection tax and other relevant issues is clear. Domestic waste incineration power plants, domestic waste landfills, and domestic waste composting plants established according to law are places for centralized treatment of domestic waste, and those that discharge taxable pollutants that do not exceed the national and local emission standards are exempted from environmental protection tax according to law.
(3) Personnel costs
Personnel expenses refer to the employee compensation paid for the personnel of the production and management of waste incineration enterprises, including wages, bonuses, labor union funds, education funds, welfare funds, various insurances, housing provident funds, labor protection fees, etc.
(4) Depreciation expense
Depreciation expense refers to the part of the value of the fixed assets of an enterprise's production and operation that is transferred to the product cost due to wear and tear in the course of use.
(5) Financing expenses
The financing expenses mainly refer to the interest expenses generated from the project construction fund loans obtained from financial institutions or non-financial institutions during the construction of the waste incineration project or the working capital loans in the operation and production process.
(6) Other expenses
Other expenses refer to various indirect expenses incurred by waste incineration enterprises for waste disposal. Including: depreciation cost of fixed assets, lease cost, spare parts cost, machine and material consumption, overhaul and repair cost, operation and maintenance cost, office cost, transportation cost, labor cost, test and inspection cost, etc.

II、 Analysis on cost characteristics of waste incineration power generation enterprises
(1) Free use of raw materials
The raw material in the production process of waste incineration power generation enterprises is domestic waste, which usually has two modes of supply. One is that the local environmental sanitation department is responsible for the collection and transportation, and the enterprise is responsible for the disposal; The other is that the enterprise is responsible for collection, transportation and disposal by itself. No matter which form is adopted, the domestic waste is provided free of charge at present, and the government has not yet charged the enterprises. Therefore, waste incineration power generation enterprises cannot control the cost by reducing the raw material procurement cost. In the future, when the waste disposal capacity is too high, there may be a shortage of raw materials. If the government pays for the supply of domestic waste, it will increase the production cost of enterprises.
(2) Activity based costing is rarely used for accounting
Since 2012, the state has gradually standardized the site selection of waste incineration power generation, emission standards, electricity price on grid, electricity price subsidies, etc. However, as waste to energy power generation projects usually specify the waste subsidy fee before the project operation, the government does not allow the project to engage in other business activities in order to ensure normal operation, resulting in relatively stable project income and relatively simple business, so waste to energy power generation enterprises are basically simple cost statistics and rarely use the activity-based cost method for accounting.
(3) High environmental protection cost
Due to the lack of classified collection of garbage in China, most domestic garbage has high moisture content and low calorific value. There will be flue gas emission in the process of garbage incineration and power generation, and it is necessary to dispose of leachate, fly ash and other pollutants. Some enterprises lacking social responsibility often do not strictly comply with the relevant national standards and requirements, resulting in frequent complaints from residents, high rate of environmental violations, serious fly ash problems, and prominent excessive emissions, which further stimulate and amplify the "avoidance effect". The waste to energy power generation industry is facing greater environmental pressure. In order to maintain a good relationship with the surrounding areas, the environmental protection standards implemented by waste to energy power generation projects are generally significantly lower than the national standards, and continuous technical environmental protection and technological transformation are required, resulting in an increase in project investment. Although the consumption of urea, calcium hydroxide and other materials does not account for a high proportion of the total cost, the disposal cost of various pollutants such as fly ash and leachate increases significantly.
(4) Fine management helps to calculate the subsidy price
The operation period of the waste incineration project is as long as 20 years, or even 30 years. When bidding for a project, the government usually sets the price of the garbage subsidy fee in combination with the power generation per ton of garbage, the on grid electricity price, the operating cost and the discount rate (the investor requires the rate of return on investment). After the pricing, it will be implemented within a certain period of time. Due to the quasi publicity of the project, both the bidder and the bidder recognize the rate of return on investment. Therefore, the dynamic adjustment of the garbage subsidy fee for the operation of the project mainly considers the power generation per ton of garbage incineration, On grid electricity price and operating cost. In general, since the power generation per ton of waste incineration and the on grid electricity price are relatively fixed and uncontrollable within a certain period, the operating cost is the main factor for the pricing and adjustment of waste subsidy fees of waste incineration enterprises, and the refinement of cost management is very important. In order to ensure the rationality of waste treatment fee expenditure, government departments are also carrying out waste treatment cost research, striving to obtain real and comprehensive cost data to provide strong support for expenditure.

III、 Problems in cost control of waste incineration Enterprises
Cost control includes cost prediction, decision-making, planning, control, accounting and analysis. Cost prediction, decision-making and planning provide the basis for cost control. Cost control should not only ensure the realization of cost objectives, but also penetrate into cost forecasting, decision-making and planning. Most waste incineration power generation enterprises adopt a budget oriented cost management mode, that is, by formulating the annual budget, breaking down the technical and economic indicators, productive costs and administrative costs, analyzing and finding out the existing problems in the implementation process, urging relevant departments to complete the cost control objectives and ensuring the realization of the annual business objectives. However, in the actual operation and production process, the following problems often exist in cost control:
(1) Budget quota indicators and difficulties in the implementation of comprehensive budget management
In 2017, the Beijing Municipal Commission of urban management and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance jointly prepared the Beijing environmental sanitation operation quota, in which the calculation of waste treatment costs includes the sum of labor costs, material costs, process costs, maintenance costs, management costs, depreciation costs, safety production costs, total profits and other costs. Quotas or corresponding calculation methods have been developed for each item. At present, the Beijing Municipal Commission of urban management has required departments at all levels to take quotas as the reference basis for services, operations, budgets, etc., and to prepare departmental budgets, spend financial funds, and clarify facility expenditures based on quotas. The actual expenditure of facilities shall not be less than 80% of the cost of cost estimation. However, the cost quota standard in Beijing environmental sanitation operation quota only corresponds to the general standard, which is difficult to be directly applied to a waste incineration enterprise. Some waste incineration enterprises have also carried out industry benchmarking activities. However, due to the different process flow, equipment specifications and production capacity, it is difficult to benchmark the costs of the same industry, which is basically the internal benchmarking of the group. Therefore, the formulation of budget quota is usually based on the historical level of the unit or the requirements of the group company. As a result, some long-term hidden problems in cost management cannot be exposed, and it is difficult to improve cost management.
(2) Inadequate informatization and refined cost management
Waste power generation enterprises generally have waste incineration and power generation processes, and some enterprises also have heat supply processes. However, as waste incineration power generation enterprises are generally franchised projects, the price of waste treatment subsidy is determined at the beginning of the project. At the same time, the government does not allow them to engage in other business activities. Therefore, waste incineration enterprises usually carry out cost management according to the first-class cost project, and all costs are classified as waste treatment costs. The cost of a certain product process such as waste treatment, electricity and heat supply is no longer calculated separately, It can not clearly show the relationship between waste treatment services and by-products such as electricity and heat products, and the degree of fine cost management is insufficient.
(3) Difficult cost control
The social responsibility of waste power generation enterprises is very important. In many cases, cost management should give way to social responsibility. In daily operation, more emphasis should be placed on stable operation to help the government solve the waste disposal problem as much as possible without considering the cost expenditure. In particular, at present, the environmental protection standards are becoming more and more strict, and the government requires that the amount of chemicals used for the disposal of some pollutants should not be lower than the limited standards, so that enterprises can reduce the control difficulties by reducing costs; At the same time, enterprises need to invest a lot of money in the transformation of existing facilities, shorten the equipment maintenance cycle, increase the disposal cost of hazardous wastes such as fly ash, zero discharge of waste water, and reduce the "avoidance effect", all of which have greatly increased the costs of enterprises, and the largest increase in expenditure is the fixed cost or hidden cost, which is difficult to control.

IV、 Countermeasures and suggestions for problems in cost control of waste incineration Enterprises
(1) Further promote comprehensive budget management, continuously carry out industry benchmarking and reduce costs
Comprehensive budget management is the basis of cost control. The implementation of cost control must rely on comprehensive budget management. In the production process of incineration power generation, each cost element shall be decomposed and detailed to each link, which can organically combine comprehensive budget management and cost control. Strengthen industry ties, focus on analyzing the gap with benchmarking enterprises in terms of human cost, cost level, management ability, development planning, etc., and actively formulate practical improvement measures and schemes to reduce costs by comprehensively facing first-class enterprises at home and abroad and related fields. In the process of comprehensive budget management and industry benchmarking, the quota consumption shall be reasonably formulated. Quota formulation should be based on technical measurement and statistical analysis, supplemented by empirical estimation. The contents mainly include consumption quota, personnel quota, cost quota, equipment quota, technical and economic index quota, etc. The quota shall be revised regularly to keep it at an advanced and reasonable level.
(2) Strengthen information construction to ensure the accuracy of cost calculation data
If the foundation is not firm, the earth will shake. It is necessary to further improve various metering devices and related systems required for operation and production, such as truck scale, electricity meter, flowmeter, etc., to ensure that the waste treatment capacity, power supply, material access and consumption are measured and accepted in strict accordance with the specified procedures. Various measuring equipment, tools and instruments shall be regularly calibrated and maintained by a special organization or person to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the data. At the same time, each department shall establish relevant operation statistics records for production and operation activities according to the division of responsibilities, including weighing and measurement records, operation management records, various parameter index data during the daily operation of facilities, such as leachate treatment data, so as to timely, accurately, systematically and completely reflect the input and output, regularly analyze and summarize, and there shall be no false, false, wrong or missing data.
(3) Implement detailed multi-level and diversified cost accounting
Waste incineration power generation enterprises take waste incineration power generation and waste disposal services as the final product accounting objects. At the same time, according to the requirements of cost management, multi-level and diversified product cost accounting objects can be refined. For example, the sewage treatment process and flue gas purification process are taken as the cost accounting objects, and the leachate treatment and concentrated solution treatment can be taken as the cost accounting objects respectively according to the sewage treatment team. Instead of using a single waste treatment power generation cost calculation, it is detailed into the process.
(4) Reasonably balance economic and social benefits, and construct cost management based on value chain
Enterprises build cost management based on the value chain. Value chain analysis is expanded from internal management to whole process management, including the whole process of project design, construction and operation. After the cost is apportioned in the value chain, it is used to compare the cost distribution of various value activities, and achieve the purpose of reducing costs by cutting down those inefficient and non value adding work in the value chain.

V、 Conclusion
Waste incineration is a heavy asset industry. Its unique public welfare attribute determines that the income level of the project has an obvious ceiling. Only by continuously improving the management level can we overcome the challenges brought by policy margin, environment margin, cost margin and income margin. At present, there are still some problems in the cost management of waste incineration power generation enterprises in China. Enterprises should actively take countermeasures and establish a perfect cost management system according to their own conditions. First of all, comprehensive budget management is the basis of cost control. It is detailed to every link in the production process of an enterprise, and organically combines comprehensive budget management and cost control. Secondly, further improve various metering devices and related systems required for operation and production. last,
According to the requirements of cost management, multi-level and diversified product cost accounting objects can be refined, and cost management based on value chain can be constructed. Value chain analysis is expanded from internal management to whole process management. At the same time, the enterprise organically combines cost management with operation and production, promotes all employees to participate in cost management, and truly realizes the objectives of cost management and control.