China's power use up 11% in February

BEIJING -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, registered a robust increase in February, as COVID-triggered disruptions gradually waned and the country's economy recovered steadily.

Total power use in China jumped 11 percent year-on-year last month to 695 billion kilowatt-hours, data from the National Energy Administration showed.

Electricity consumed by the secondary industry surged 19.7 percent from a year ago in February. Power consumption in the primary and tertiary industries rose 8.6 percent and 4.4 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Residential power consumption logged a year-on-year decline of 9.2 percent.

In the first two months, the country's power use increased 2.3 percent year-on-year to 1.38 trillion kilowatt-hours.