China's Q1 power consumption up 0.8%

BEIJING - The growth of China'a total power use slowed in the first quarter (Q1), the latest sign of feeble economic momentum amid downward pressure.

The national electricity consumption grew 0.8 percent year on year to 1.29 trillion kilowatt hours (kwh) in the period after a weak February and March due to holiday distortion, data from the National Energy Administration said on Thursday.

The growth rate was 4.6 percent lower than that a year ago, data showed.

Industrial power use edged down 0.6 percent, while the combined electricity consumption of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery declined 1.9 percent.

However, power use by the tertiary industry remained robust as the country nurtures new growth areas. The service sector consumed 7 percent more power from a year ago in the first quarter and power use for residential purposes rose 2.6 percent.

The country's total power consumption went down 2.2 percent in March, following a 6.3 percent fall in February, data showed.

The figures were in line with the current overall economic trend which usually experiences rocky year start.

China's economy grew 7 percent year on year in Q1, down from 7.3 percent in the last quarter 2014. The growth marked the lowest quarterly rate since 2009 but met the "around 7 percent" target for this year.

In the quarter, newly installed power generation capacity amassed to 18.07 million kilowatts, mostly thermal (9.94 million kw). Newly installed hydro-power capacity was 1.59 million kw during the period.