China's power use sees strong growth in July

BEIJING -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, surpassed the 1-trillion-kilowatt-hours mark in July, according to the National Energy Administration on Thursday.

Power use hit 1.02 trillion kilowatt-hours in July, representing an 8.6-percent increase from the same period last year, driven by a combination of multiple rounds of heat waves and steady industrial activity.

In July, power consumed by the primary and secondary industries rose 20.2 percent and 4.7 percent year-on-year to 17 billion kilowatt-hours and 593.6 billion kilowatt-hours, respectively, and power consumed by the tertiary sector increased 10.7 percent to 208.1 billion kilowatt-hours.

The electricity consumption of the country's residents also saw strong growth last month due to prolonged high temperatures and humidity, with total power use reaching 203.9 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 18 percent.

From January to July, China's total power use climbed 4.5 percent year-on-year to over 5.86 trillion kilowatt-hours.