The historical process of the structural reform of Chinese electricity industry is reviewed

and then the difficulties of the Chinese electricity retailing side reform in the current situation are analyzed. The position of the electricity retailing side reform in the framework of the Chinese electricity industry reform is studied. The importance of the retail side reform related to constructing electricity market trading mechanism

facilitating renewable energy development and implementing demand response is presented. Based on the above

the institutional design of and the related suggestions for reforming the Chinese retail electricity market are made

which include fostering retailers the marketization way

fostering customers using the Internet

categorizing and differentiating the market entry rules of retailers

exploiting the marketization mechanism to encourage retailers

providing various value-added services

founding common wealth retailers to serve demand in the managed state

establishing fair and transparent retailer supervision and information disclosure system

etc. This work is supported by State Grid Corporation.