China's electricity use growth continues to slow

BEIJING - China's electricity consumption growth continued to slow in November, official data showed Monday.

Power use rose 4.6 percent year-on-year, compared with 5 percent in October and 6.9 percent in November last year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

For the January-November period, electricity use increased 6.5 percent year-on-year, a rise of 1.5 percentage points from the same period of last year.

In the first 11 months, electricity use in the service sector maintained double-digit growth, up 10.5 percent year-on-year, but the increase was 1.1 percentage points slower than a year earlier.

Power use in the agricultural and industrial sectors rose 7.1 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.

The industrial sector contributed nearly 60 percent of the total electricity consumption growth.

The power use data came after a slew of other monthly indicators were released last week.

Both fixed-asset investment and industrial output softened in November from October, while retail sales growth picked up due to the Singles' Day (Nov 11) online shopping promotion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China's GDP expanded 6.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, compared with 6.9 percent in the second quarter.