China increases power consumption by 5.5% in 2012

China's power consumption in 2012 expanded at a much slower pace than a year earlier.

The National Energy Administration that electricity used last year grew 5.5 percent from 2011 to 4.96 trillion kilowatt hours.

The growth rate was markedly lower than the 11.7-percent increase registered in 2011, echoing the slowdown in the country's economy last year.

China's economy grew by 7.4 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2012, slowing for the seventh consecutive quarter.

The service sector consumed 11.5 percent more electricity than a year ago, the industrial sector 3.9 percent more, while power used by the agricultural sector stayed unchanged, the statement said.

The average operational time of power plants across the country with generation capacity of more than 6,000 kilowatts dropped by 158 hours to 4,572 hours last year, according to the NEA.

New generation capacity added last year stood at 87 million kw, the statement said.

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