China's electricity consumption in October is up 10.4% due to a surge in household power usage

The energy regulator reported that China's power consumption in October was up 10.4% compared to the same period last year. This increase is attributed to a surge in consumption by households, industries such as information technology, and consumers who charge and swap batteries.

In a Wechat posting, the National Energy Administration (NEA), said that October's power consumption totaled 857.2 billion kilowatt hours (kWh).

The fastest growth in consumption was seen by urban and rural households, with a 23.9% increase on the previous year. This supports the idea that weather patterns unusually promoting cooling and heating in various regions has boosted electricity usage.

The tertiary industry sector grew the fastest, with 17.1%. The NEA reported that among these industries, battery swapping and charging, software, transmission of information, and information technology services industries grew at the fastest rate.

Tertiary industry includes retail, transport, catering and accommodation as well as finance, property, and finance.

The primary industry power demand (which includes agriculture and forestry) grew by 13.2%.

The power consumption of the secondary industry, which includes mining, manufacturing and utilities, has increased by 6.2%.

Data last week, from the Statistics Bureau, which surveys industrial companies with revenues of over 20 million yuan (US$2.8 million), excluding some small-scale solar, showed that power production in October increased by 7.9%, to 800.2 Gigawatt Hours.

This was the highest electricity generation in a single month since the 1990s. The fossil fuel category saw a 7.3% increase. (Reporting and editing by Clarence Fernandez; Colleen howe)

(source: Reuters)