China's Aug power output dips 0.8% as summer heat fails to lift output

China's total power generation was 943.8 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in August, down 0.8% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on September 15. That is just shy of July's record 943.9 billion kWh, the highest for any single month in history.

The fall came from a high base rather than weak demand, however. Last August was also very hot, and generation then totaled 936.3 billion kWh, up 1.6% on year. Last month, thermal power generation, which is mostly coal-fired, fell 4.3% to 602 billion kWh, a bigger drop than July's 3.5%.