Power consumption decelerates in April

BEIJING - China's power consumption decelerated in April amid slowing industrial activities during the period, new data showed Monday.

Energy consumption rose 3.7 percent year-on-year to 389.9 billion kWh in April, down 3.3 percentage points from that in March, according to a statement on the website of the National Energy Administration (NEA).

The data came as China's industrial production weakened sharply in April, with industrial value-added output up 9.3 percent year-on-year after taking into account inflation, marking the lowest pace in nearly three years.

For the first four months, electricity consumption increased 6 percent from a year ago to 1.56 trillion KWh, said the NEA.

During the January-April period, electricity consumption by primary industries decreased 4.2 percent year-on-year to 26.7 billion kWh, power used by secondary industries expanded by 3.7 percent to 1.13 trillion kWh, while the tertiary industries consumed 181.7 billion kWh of electricity, up 12.5 percent from a year ago.

Meanwhile, residential electricity consumption increased 15.4 percent from a year earlier to 217.6 billion kWh.