中国疫情各地大爆发之际，整个中国连日来进入极寒冷冬，部分地方出现停电限电问题。1月8日，李克强强调，近期中国多处地方有疫情，要遏制疫情扩散。
李克强在会上还谈到保障民生用气用电用煤问题，决不允许发生人为断供情况，保持煤炭供需平衡。
李克强发话之前，受强冷空气影响，整个中国进入极寒冷冬。
北京从1月6日开始出现了摄氏零下17度超低温的严寒天气。此温度为1966年以来最低，部分地区还出现了无预警停电，供暖亦中断。
1月7日，北京温度再度下降至零下19.6摄氏度。停电持续，供暖仍中断。据北京市气象台预报，未来几日，北京仍将持续出现严寒天气。
极度严寒天气令民众纷纷叫苦，微博上先后出现了“北京冷”，“北京冷哭了”，“北京人冻僵冻傻冻裂”等多个热门话题。
也有不少网友诉说严寒之下停电之苦。“停电停水停电梯，真是至暗至冷的冬夜”、“夜里体会了一把被生生冻醒两次的感觉，然后不负众望地冻病了回家了”、“最恐怖的事情发生了……北京零下20多度的夜晚……停电停水停供暖！”
有北京市民对媒体反映，收费的集体供暖，较往年温度更低了，甚至达不到要求的最低供暖温度18摄氏度。甚至有的北京小区竟然出现停电、停水、停供暖的情况。
据报，这已经不是北京第一次停电，有朝阳区新街大院的居民在微博上称，在极寒天气连续两天停电，6日晚零下17度供暖也停了，进入2021年北京已经3次停电了。
北京电力公司公布消息称，截至6日21时，北京电网用电负荷达到2451万千瓦，刷新了历史纪录。
北京停电次日，上海多区域网友也发帖称，家中停电。普陀区网友：“零下7度，停电了！”上海东四小区网友说：“小区停电，还赶在我论文零点截稿前，大北京接近北极温度，上海零下6度的这个晚上，有没有搞错？”
徐汇区宛南三村居民向当地媒体说，家里停电超过快10个小时，既不能做饭又没法使用暖气。
截至7日晚21时，上海电网今日最高用电负荷为3,339万千瓦，创负荷历史新高。
除了北京，上海之外，山西、河南、陕西、山东等省份一些地区，也出现停电或发布未来几日的停电公告，但大陆主流媒体未报导此事，相关消息在社交网站上发酵。
四川德阳1月8日发布计划停电公告。同日陕西榆林靖边县供电分公司发声明，称因用电负荷急剧攀升，多个区停电检修。陕西延安也发通知，称延安将有部分区域停电。
山西省临汾市更是在摄氏零下15度的寒流中，强拆居民取暖的煤炉。而居民仍用煤炉取暖，原因是电力取暖费用太高。
对于中国多个省份隆冬停电停暖问题，旅居德国的著名水利专家王维洛博士分析说，中共当局有人为操作在里面，别有不良目的，并不一定是因禁止澳洲煤炭进口的影响。
王维洛表示，中国其实并不缺电，中国停电目的，是为下一次的电费涨价做舆论准备的。
对于李克强紧急发话，要求各地不要人为断供民生用气、电、煤，外界也不看好会有真正的效果。原因是李多年来频频为政令不出中南海而当众发火，却从没有解决过实际民生问题。
China hit by epidemic, electricity shortage amid cold winter, Li Keqiang's urgent message
People line up to be tested for the Chinese Communist Party virus outside a hospital in Beijing on Jan. 5, 2021, where new cases of the virus were recently discovered. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
China as a whole has been in the grip of an extremely cold winter for days, amidst a Communist virus outbreak. To add insult to injury, several provinces and cities, including Shaanxi, Shandong and Beijing, have suffered power shortages and disruptions in heating. Under the severe cold, people everywhere are suffering. Against this backdrop, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was forced to convene an executive meeting of the State Council, demanding that the people's livelihood be protected with gas and electricity and coal, and that no artificial supply cuts be allowed.
On January 8, Li Keqiang stressed the need to curb the spread of the epidemic, which has recently hit many parts of China.
Li Keqiang also spoke at the meeting to protect people's livelihood with gas and electricity with coal, never allow artificial supply cut-offs to occur, to maintain a balance between supply and demand of coal.
Before Li Keqiang's words, the whole China entered the extremely cold winter due to the strong cold air.
Beijing started to experience a severe cold weather of minus 17 degrees Celsius on January 6. The temperature was the lowest since 1966, and some areas also experienced power outages without warning, and heating was interrupted.
On January 7, the temperature in Beijing dropped again to minus 19.6 degrees Celsius. Power outages continued and heating was still interrupted. According to the Beijing Meteorological Station, Beijing will continue to experience severe cold weather in the next few days.
The extremely cold weather has caused people to cry out, and there are many popular topics on Weibo such as "Beijing is cold", "Beijing is cold and crying" and "Beijingers are freezing and freezing".
A woman wearing a mask stands at a bus stop on a cold winter day in Beijing, Dec. 29, 2020. (WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)
Many netizens also complained about the suffering of power outages under the bitter cold. "The most horrible thing happened ...... Beijing minus 20 degrees at night ...... power and water outages and heating!"
Some Beijing citizens reflected to the media that the collective heating for a fee, compared to previous years, the temperature is even lower, not even up to the required minimum heating temperature of 18 degrees Celsius. There are even some Beijing neighborhoods where electricity, water and heating are actually stopped.
It is reported that this is not the first time that Beijing has lost electricity. Some residents of the New Street Compound in Chaoyang District said on Weibo that the electricity was cut off for two days in a row during the extremely cold weather, and the heating was also stopped at minus 17 degrees on the night of the 6th, and Beijing has already lost electricity three times into 2021.
Beijing Electric Power Company announced that as of 21:00 on the 6th, the electricity load on the Beijing power grid reached 24.51 million kilowatts, a new historical record.
Beijing blackout the next day, Shanghai multi-region netizens also posted that their homes were without power. Putuo District netizens: "-7 degrees, blackout!" Shanghai east four district netizens said, "the district blackout, but also in time for my thesis zero cut-off before the big Beijing near the Arctic temperature, Shanghai minus 6 degrees this night, there is no mistake?"
Xuhui District Wannan three village residents said to local media, home power outages for more than almost 10 hours, can not cook and can not use the heating.
As of 21:00 on the evening of the 7th, the highest electricity load in Shanghai's power grid today was 33.39 million kilowatts, a record high load.
In addition to Beijing and Shanghai, some areas in Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi and Shandong provinces also experienced power outages or issued announcements of power outages for the next few days, but the mainland mainstream media did not report this, and the news festered on social networking sites.
Sichuan Deyang issued a planned power outage announcement on Jan. 8. On the same day, Yulin Jingbian County Power Supply Branch in Shaanxi Province issued a statement, saying that several districts had lost power for maintenance due to a sharp rise in electricity load. Yan'an, Shaanxi Province also issued a notice that there would be some areas of Yan'an without power.
Linfen City, Shanxi Province, even forcibly demolished residents' coal stoves for heating in the -15 degrees Celsius cold snap. The residents still use coal stoves to heat their homes because of the high cost of electricity to heat their homes.
Dr. Wang Weiluo, a well-known water expert living in Germany, said that the Chinese Communist Party authorities are operating artificially and for ulterior motives, not necessarily due to the ban on coal imports from Australia.
The purpose of China's blackout is to prepare public opinion for the next electricity price increase.
For Li Keqiang's emergency message, asking places not to artificially cut off the supply of gas, electricity and coal for people's livelihood, the outside world is also not optimistic that there will be a real effect. The reason is that Li has been frequently angry in public over the years for the political order not to leave Zhongnanhai, but never solved the actual livelihood problems.