Posted on 21 Nov 2024
China's electricity consumption totalled 774.2 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in October, marking a 4.3% rise on year, according to official data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA) on November 20.
However, power use last month declined by 8.6% from September, falling for the second consecutive month, mainly due to a huge 29.6% plunge in residential use, which reached 93.2 kWh, the NEA data showed.
Household power consumption weakened in October as the arrival of cooler temperatures reduced the need for air conditioning, as Mysteel Global has reported. The shoulder season of September-October often sees a reduction in household energy needs as the summer heat waves diminish. In August, residential electricity use hit a record high of 191.8 kWh.
Power consumed in China's primary sector, mainly involving industries of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing and aquaculture, came in at 10.6 billion kWh in October, up 5.1% on year but down 12.4% on month, the data showed.
Meanwhile, electricity consumption by the secondary sector, primarily processing and manufacturing industries, registered 533.7 billion kWh, down by 0.8% from September but up by 2.7% on year.
The 2.7% growth reflects the resilience of domestic manufacturing in the face of rising global protectionism and geopolitical tensions that continue to disrupt the country's exports, industry analysts noted.
Power usage in the tertiary or service sector logged 136.7 billion kWh last month, 8.4% higher on year but 17.3% lower on month.
Consequently, for the first ten months of this year, China's power consumption amounted to 8,183.6 billion kWh in total, representing a 7.6% rise compared with the same period last year, the NEA data showed.
In October, China produced 731 billion kWh of electricity from all sources, up 2.1% from a year earlier but down 8.9% on month, according to data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics on November 15. This sent power generation during the January-October period to 7,802.7 billion kWh, marking a 5.2% rise on year.
Source:Mysteel Global
