China's power shortage reached 40 million kilowatts at the beginning of last year after the country was hit by the worst snowstorm in 50 years, the China Electricity Council said yesterday.

The shortfall eased after March and most regions had a surplus of power in the fourth quarter as the economy slowed, Bloomberg News said.

China was battling the country's worst power shortage in history, Chang Jianping, a deputy director at the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, said in January last year. Power shortage in 2007 was less than 10 million kilowatts, the council said last year.

China's electricity generation capacity rose 10.3 percent to 792.5 million kilowatts by the end of 2008, according to yesterday's statement.

(Shanghai Daily February 5, 2009)