Electricity usage in China rose by 14.7 percent in August from a year earlier, as demand peaked in summer.

The nation consumed 397.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity last month, up 2 percent month on month, the National Energy Administration said late Tuesday.

The growth rate is likely to fall in September after the summer peak, said analysts.

What's more, the demand from heavy industries will decline as the government curbs power use in these industries.

"Power usage by heavy industries will continue to see month-on-month drops in September and October, due to the moves," said Xue Jing, head of the statistics department at the China Electricity Council (CEC).

Power usage for heavy manufacturing industries went down by 3.8 percent in August, according to the CEC.

A number of provinces in China, such as Hebei, have begun to curb power consumption, especially in energy-intensive industries, to achieve the energy-saving and emission reduction targets set by the government.

China aims to cut energy intensity, the amount of fuel used to generate each unit of gross domestic product, by 20 percent by 2010 from the levels in 2005 while reducing emissions of key pollutants by 10 percent during the same period.

Due to the dwindling demand from heavy industries, the total power consumption growth has already seen a distinctive slowdown in some provinces and autonomous regions like Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, said Xue.

Annual growth rate of electricity consumption in Inner Mongolia declined from 25 percent in July to 10 percent in August, she said.

Heavy industries like steel, nonferrous metals, cement and construction material, are the major contributors to the total power consumption in China.

Power use in these industries has seen a rapid growth in the first half of the year, as industrial production continues to ramp up.

China's power consumption, a barometer of the economy, is expected to see positive growth this year, said analysts.

The nation will also see a balance between power supply and demand this year, they said.

Nearly 660 billion yuan (US$97.88 billion) will be allocated to the nation's power sector this year, most of which would be used for power generation facilities and the rest for power grids, according to the CEC.

But the nation needs to further reform its electricity pricing system to reduce financial pressure on domestic power producers, it said.

(China Daily September 16, 2010)