In order to control the operation status of the unit and explore the reasons for the difference in operating parameters of power plants A and B, the performance of incinerator-heat recovery boiler was experimentally studied, and the efficiency of incinerator-heat recovery boiler, various heat losses and waste heat utilization ratio of superheater and economizer were quantitatively calculated, and the performance of superheater was analyzed according to the tested and calculated results. The results show that the incinerator-heat recovery boiler of the two power plants have low efficiency and high exhaust gas temperature, and the heat loss from smoke exhaust accounts for the largest proportion in the total heat loss of the unit, that is 83.59% in power plant A and 84.61% in power plant B, followed by the heat loss from slag. The superheater performance of power plant A is better than that of power plant B, which is the main reason for the difference of operating parameters between the two power plants. The waste heat utilization rate from superheater inlet to economizer inlet of power plant B is 34.91%, which is 9.14 percentage points lower than that of power plant A. The research results have important guiding significance for the economical and efficient operation and the following technical transformation of the two waste incineration power plants.