On October 19th, the National Energy Administration of China released figures indicating that in September, the nation’s total electricity consumption reached 847.5 billion kilowatt-hours, marking an 8.5% increase compared to the previous year.
Breaking down electricity usage by sector, the primary industry consumed 12.1 billion kilowatt-hours, up 6.4%; the secondary industry used 537.9 billion kilowatt-hours, increasing by 3.6%; the tertiary sector saw a significant rise to 165.2 billion kilowatt-hours, which is a 12.7% growth; and residential electricity consumption in urban and rural areas hit 132.3 billion kilowatt-hours, a remarkable increase of 27.8%.
From January to September this year, China’s total electricity consumption reached 7,409.4 billion kilowatt-hours, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 7.9%. Among this, electricity generation from large-scale industries accounted for 7,056 billion kilowatt-hours.
Looking at electricity usage by sector for the same period, the primary industry consumed 103.5 billion kilowatt-hours (6.9% growth), the secondary sector used 4,738.5 billion kilowatt-hours (5.9% increase), and the tertiary sector recorded 1,395.3 billion kilowatt-hours, an 11.2% rise. Residential consumption reached 1,172.1 billion kilowatt-hours, marking a 12.6% increase.
Cai Yiqing, the director of the Power Demand Side Management Promotion Center in the industrial sector, commented on the differential development of electricity consumption, stating that it reflects the trends in industrial growth. He noted that sectors with faster growth rates indicate they are in a phase of rapid development, expanding production scales, and increasing the application of new technologies, consequently leading to higher electricity demand.
