Chinese electricity use rising

Electricity consumption in China rose nearly six percent in 2009 , the government said Wednesday, as the economic recovery gathered pace and unusually early cold weather struck parts of the country. Overall consumption rose 5.96 percent to 3.6 billion megawatt hours from a year earlier, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency, said in a statement on its website. That compares with an increase of 5.49 percent in 2008 , according to figures in the statement. Consumption by primary industries such as agriculture and forestry jumped 7.9 percent on- year, while the amount of electricity used by secondary industries such as mining and manufacturing rose 4.2 percent, it said. Household consumption surged 11.9 percent on- year, the statement said, reflecting rising living standards and a sudden drop in temperatures in northern and central provinces late last year. A strong rebound in the Chinese economy last year was driven by massive public spending and record government lending.