Power consumption up 9% in Nov: Sources

Power consumption growth rallied in November to nine percent year-on-year, extending the acceleration to two months in a row and signaling an industrial sector that is stabilizing, experts said.

The November power consumption figure, which was released to some on Sunday but is not yet officially released, will be up to 420 billion kilowatt-hours, a source with the National Energy Administration was quoted by Economic Information Daily as saying.

The data was echoed by anther source with the China Electricity Council, who said although the detailed figure by sectors was not yet published, nationwide power consumption has been expanding mainly because of surging demand in the industrial sector.

At the other end, power generation in November picked up 7.9 percent year-on-year, marking the highest growth speed this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

"Rapid growth at both the power consumption and generation ends was mainly due to a overall improving economy," said Hu Zhaoguang, vice-president of the State Grid Energy Research Institute.

Hu said growing power consumption was largely a result of the government's trillion-yuan investment stimulus midyear, which has shown its initial effect and will continue to play a role in driving the upturn in power consumption, although it is still too early to tell how long it will last.

The fact that power consumption growth has accelerated for two months and industrial output growth has expanded for three months are both evidence that China's industrial sector is stabilizing and will enter a medium-speed growth era, said Jin Bei, from the Institute of Industrial Economic at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

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