NDRC: High demand behind China’s electricity squeeze

The unexpected jump in electricity consumption in China due to exceptionally robust industrial activity and low temperatures has led power rationing measures to be introduced this month by Central China’s Hunan and East China’s Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces. This is an unusual occurrence in winter, which also challenged domestic supply of coal, the core fuel for electricity generation, Mysteel Global notes.

In reply to a question at a press conference in Beijing on December 21 about the rationing, Zhao Chenxin, secretary general of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), replied that the key reason was the jump in demand. Power consumption in Hunan and Jiangxi has been surging since the