China's power use up 4.5% in 2019

China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, rose 4.5 percent year on year in 2019, the country's top economic planner has said.

The growth rate was nearly half down from the 8.5-percent growth in the previous year.

Specifically, power use by first and secondary industries increased 4.5 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, said Meng Wei, a spokesperson with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The tertiary industry maintained its faster year-on-year growth at 9.5 percent, according to Meng, while residential power consumption increased 5.7 percent from a year ago.

"China continued its efforts in 2019 to lower power use costs," said Meng. The annual electricity consumption cost for enterprises was reduced by 84.6 billion yuan (about 12.28 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, NDRC data showed.

The country also lowered the transportation prices of refined oil, natural gas and trans-provincial pipelines by adjusting the value-added tax rate, reducing users' costs by more than 65 billion yuan throughout the year.