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China to see 12% rise in power consumption

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-22 22:49

BEIJING - China is expected to see its electricity consumption rise 10 to 12 percent year on year in 2011, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said Friday.

The full-year amount of power use is expected to total 4.61-4.69 trillion kilowatt hours (kwh), the NEA said in a statement on its website.

The growth rate is higher than the 9 percent increase the NEA forecast in January. The NEA did not give an explanation for the change.

The agency also said power consumption will grow 11 percent in the first half of this year to 2.2 trillion kwh.

China used 1.09 trillion kwh of electricity in the first quarter this year, up 12.72 percent from a year earlier, the NEA said

Power supplies are likely to be moderately tight in northern, eastern, central and southern regions of China in summer as power demand is expected to rise relatively fast, the statement said.

The NEA also forecasted stronger demand for oil and gas this year as more cars will hit the road, with auto sales likely to approach 20 million units this year, up 11 percent from 2010.

It said oil consumption would probably climb 9 percent from a year earlier to 130 million tonnes in the first half and gain 8 percent year on year to 265 million tonnes for the full year.

Gas consumption will likely reach 104 billion cubic meters this year, up 7.5 percent year on year, the statement said.