National power consumption will continue to increase this year

China will use 5,100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity this year, a 7 percent increase year-on-year, as the central government carries out a series of policies meant to stimulate economy, said Yu Yanshan, vice-chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Yu estimated on Monday that China will increase its use of power in the second half of the year, according to Xinhua News Agency.

"The decline in the growth rate of power use in eastern China appeared at the beginning of the year and went on until May, meaning that the economy in the East China was bottoming out," he said. "In the second half of the year, the country's economy will warm up to achieve our full-year goal for economic growth."

According to official figures, the country used 2,374 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the first half of the year, up 5.5 percent year-on-year. That growth rate was down 6.7 percentage points from the year before.

He also said the amount of electricity coming from hydropower sources in China had increased by 12.7 percent.