Five provinces and regions in South China reported a sharp decline in electricity consumption in the first two months of this year due to the global economic crisis, China Southern Power Grid revealed on Saturday.

The company reported that Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan consumed 68.6 billion kilowatt-hours in the two months, down 2.6 percent from the same period last year.

Taking into account of power cuts by large energy-consuming factories to ensure household supplies during the severe cold weather early last year, the decrease rate was actually 12 percent, according to the report prepared for the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The report showed electricity consumption fell 8.9 percent in Guangdong, 12 percent in Guangxi and 1.6 percent in Yunnan. The three provinces are considered economically developed regions and big power consumers.

However, the decrease was relatively lower in February and it would take longer to see whether the regional electricity consumption would resume growth, said the report.

China's electricity consumption grew 5.23 percent last year, 9.57 percentage points lower than the year before and the slowest in eight years.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2009)