Xinhua News Agency citing the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said China recorded an 11.7%YoY increase in power consumption in 2011 to 4.7 trillion kilowatts hours.

According to experts in the SERC, growth in power consumption in 2012 is projected to slow to 8.5% due to a lower economic growth rate.

China added 90 million kilowatts of installed capacity last year, bringing the total installed capacity to more than 1.06 billion kilowatts up 9.3% from 2010.

A number of power generation companies faced operational difficulties due to the contradiction in coal and power prices and the situation has improved since power prices were raised in December.

Mr Yu Yanshan vice president of the SERC said power consumption in the first eight days of January only rose by 3%.

Mr Yu forecasts a 5% growth in power consumption in the first quarter.

(Sourced from Xinhua News Agency)