BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) - China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, rose 5.8 percent year on year in April, official data showed.

File photo: VCG

Total power use reached 553.4 billion kilowatt hours last month, according to the National Energy Administration.

Specifically, power use by the secondary industry increased by 4 percent, and that by the tertiary industry 10.5 percent.

Power use in the first four months totaled 2.23 trillion kilowatt hours, up 5.6 percent from one year earlier.