China's power use surges 10.3% in 2021

BEIJING - China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, went up 10.3 percent year-on-year in 2021, as the country's economy ended the year with a strong rebound despite sporadic epidemic resurgences.

Total power use in China reached 8.31 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2021, data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) showed. The figure represents a 14.7 percent growth from 2019, putting the average growth for the past two years at 7.1 percent.

Specifically, power consumed by the primary, secondary and tertiary industries climbed 16.4 percent, 9.1 percent and 17.8 percent year-on-year, respectively, the NEA said.

Residential power consumption saw a 7.3-percent year-on-year increase to 1.17 trillion kWh in 2021, NEA data showed.

The country's gross domestic product expanded 8.1 percent year-on-year to 114.37 trillion yuan ($18 trillion) last year.