China's power generation, consumption growth to notch 7-year highs in 2018

BEIJING - Growth of China's power generation and consumption, important indicators of economic performance, are expected to hit seven-year highs in 2018, the Economic Information Daily reported Monday.

The paper said the country's daily power generation last year averaged at 18.47 billion kWh, jumping 8.52 percent year-on-year, while the growth of power consumption is predicted to exceed 8 percent, according to preliminary statistics.

Official data showed that the growth of China's power generation and consumption indicated a downward trend over the past 10 years but rebounded gradually in recent years.

The growth of power consumption year-on-year stood at 5.23 percent in 2008, slumping 9 percentage points from 2017. The growth dived to only 0.5 percent in 2015 but rebounded to 8.47 percent in the first 11 months of 2018.

Power generation also grew faster in 2018, climbing 6.9 percent year-on-year for the first 11 months, compared with a 5.9-percent gain in 2017.

Analysts said the faster growth was driven by industrial reconstruction, the upgrade of power usage structure and the switch from coal to electricity for winter heating.

Affected by economic downward trend and a warm winter, China's power consumption is estimated to rise 5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, analysts said.