China's power consumption rose 3.79 percent year on year to 305.22 billion kilowatt hours in June, the China Securities News reported, citing sources from the China Electricity Council (CEC).

The country's power output reached 300.92 billion kilowatt hours in June, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier.

Analysts ascribed the increases in both figures to high temperatures in north China last month and several regional economic stimulus that started to take effect.

The country's total power consumption and generation reached 1,641.1 billion kilowatt hours and 1,624 billion kilowatt hours in the first half of the year, down 2.43 percent and 1.8 percent year on year, respectively, according to the newspaper on Saturday.

Economic slowdown has sapped China's power use since October last year as the world downturn took a toll on the country's economy. In May, power consumption declined 2.57 percent over the same period last year.

Many provinces in north China have been hit by scorching heat since June, with temperatures reaching at least 35 degrees Celsius, and in some regions hitting 40 degrees.

Xue Jing, director of the statistics and information department under the CEC, agreed that increasing industrial activities and the heat wave contributed to the power consumption and output, but said more prudent observations are needed to tell whether the country's economy would embark on a new round of growth.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2009)