Five provinces and regions in China's south saw a sharp decline in electricity consumption in the first two months this year, indicating that economic recovery had been slower than expected, China Southern Power Grid (CSPG) revealed Saturday.

CSPG statistics show 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.

Factoring in decreases by factories and high energy-consuming plants to ensure household supplies during the severe winter weather last year, the decrease rate was actually 12 percent, said a report from CSPG for the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The statistics show consumption by Guangdong fall 8.9 percent, while that by Guangxi was down 12 percent and Yunnan 1.6 percent. The three are considered as economically developed regions and big power consumers.

The decline showed the global financial crisis was still having a lingering impact on the regional economy, said the report.

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

Total electricity consumption in China grew 5.23 percent in 2008, 9.57 percentage points lower than the year before, the slowest in eight years, according to a report released by China Electricity Council (CEC) last month.

China would see a power glut in 2009 as the global economic downturn forced factories to scale back output and electricity consumption, the CEC report said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2009)