China's power consumption up 11.4% in May

BEIJING - China's electricity consumption rose 11.4 percent year-on-year to 553 billion kilowatt hours last month, data showed.

The rate was 6.4 percentage points higher than the increase in May last year partly because the weather last month was unusually hot, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

In the first five months, power consumption rose 9.8 percent to 2.7 trillion kilowatt hours.

Electricity used by the service sector expanded 15.1 percent in the five-month period, followed by a 13.9 percent increase for residential power use and 10.6 percent for the agricultural sector. Power consumption in the industrial sector went up 7.7 percent.

Power generation rose 8.5 percent in the January-May period, picking up from 7.7 percent in the first four months.

In May alone, power generation stood at 544.33 billion kilowatt hours, up 9.8 percent year-on-year.

Industrial output held steady last month, expanding 6.8 percent year-on-year. The growth was slower than the 7-percent rise in the previous month, but still faster than the 6-percent increase in March.