In the first two months of this year, total electricity consumption across society increased by 6.1% year-over-year.

On March 17, the National Energy Administration released data on electricity consumption across society for January and February. The data shows that in the first two months of this year, total electricity consumption reached 1,654.6 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. According to statistics, the growth rate is 4.8 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

“The main reasons are the cold wave weather in January driving up electricity demand, along with a low base from the same period last year, which together boosted the growth rate of electricity consumption,” said Jiang Debin, Deputy Director of the Statistics and Digital Intelligence Department of the China Electricity Council, in an interview with Securities Daily.

Data from the National Energy Administration shows that in the first two months of this year, electricity used by the primary industry was 22.3 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%; electricity used by the secondary industry was 1,027.9 billion kWh, up 6.3% year-on-year, with industrial electricity consumption increasing by 6.4%, and high-tech and equipment manufacturing industries increasing by 10.6% year-on-year; electricity used by the tertiary industry was 323.1 billion kWh, an increase of 8.3% year-on-year, with charging and swapping services and internet data services growing by 55.1% and 46.2%, respectively; urban and rural residents’ electricity consumption was 281.3 billion kWh, up 2.7%.

Jiang Debin stated that overall, the electricity consumption in the first two months shows several characteristics: first, the growth rates of electricity used by the secondary industry, tertiary industry, and residents are higher than the same period last year, with the secondary industry showing particularly strong growth; second, manufacturing electricity consumption performed notably, with all four high-energy-consuming industries and high-tech equipment manufacturing sub-sectors achieving positive growth; third, service industry electricity consumption maintained rapid growth.

Looking at data from the China Electricity Council, from January to February, industrial electricity consumption increased by 6.4% year-on-year, 3.2 percentage points higher than December last year; manufacturing electricity consumption increased by 6.6%, 3.1 percentage points higher than December.

Jiang Debin further explained that, based on major manufacturing categories, the domestic electricity situation in the first two months shows several features: first, electricity consumption in the four major high-energy-consuming industries increased by 3.9% year-on-year, 1.4 percentage points higher than December; all four industries achieved positive growth, with increases higher than December, including the building materials industry, which saw its first positive growth since March last year, up 1.0% year-on-year.

Second, high-tech and equipment manufacturing industries increased by 10.6% year-on-year, 4.9 percentage points higher than December. Driven by ongoing developments in artificial intelligence computing power and energy transition, all sub-sectors achieved positive growth, with electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing (15.1%), instrumentation manufacturing (12.9%), computer/communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing (12.3%), general equipment manufacturing (12.0%), and specialized equipment manufacturing (11.0%) all exceeding 10% growth; other sub-sectors grew by more than 6%.

Third, consumer goods manufacturing increased by 8.0% year-on-year, 7.1 percentage points higher than December. Specifically, all 12 sub-sectors experienced positive growth.