Analyzing the economy through electricity data: Monthly electricity consumption breaks the one - trillion - kilowatt - hour mark for the first time. Who is consuming it?
Data from the National Energy Administration shows that in July this year, the total electricity consumption across society exceeded one trillion kilowatt - hours for the first time, reaching 1.02 trillion kilowatt - hours and breaking the monthly electricity consumption record.
One trillion kilowatt - hours is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 1.25 billion households.
What pushed up this unprecedented electricity bill? The primary factor is the high - temperature weather. Data released by the National Climate Center shows that from July 5th to August 5th, the national average temperature was 23.7°C, 1.5°C higher than the same period in previous years, making it the highest in the same period since 1961.
Among them, the average temperatures in 10 provincial - level regions including Hubei, Shandong, Sichuan, Chongqing, Qinghai, Hebei, Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan were the highest in the same period in history.
Undoubtedly, the high - temperature weather led to a surge in electricity demand. In July, the electricity consumption for urban and rural residents' living reached 203.9 billion kilowatt - hours, a year - on - year increase of 18%, which is equivalent to each household in the country turning on an extra air - conditioner. Even Mohe, the so - called "Arctic Village" in China, couldn't bear it and was busy installing air - conditioners.
However, beyond the high - temperature weather, it is the machines that run day and night in factories and workshops across the country that truly support this electricity consumption peak.
Industry Consumes the Most Electricity
Industry is a major electricity consumer, with its electricity consumption accounting for more than 60% of the total social electricity consumption year - round.
In July, the growth rate of industrial electricity consumption increased by 1.5 percentage points compared with the previous month. Looking at a longer time frame, in the first seven months, industrial electricity consumption reached 3.74 trillion kilowatt - hours, a year - on - year increase of 2.8%.
According to People's Daily, a relevant person in charge of the China Electricity Council introduced that in industrial electricity consumption, the electricity consumption of high - tech and equipment manufacturing industries increased by 4.6% in the first seven months, 2.3 percentage points higher than the average of the manufacturing industry. From the perspective of sub - industries, new - energy vehicle manufacturing was particularly prominent, with electricity consumption increasing by 25.7% year - on - year.
Actually, in the past two decades, the growth rate of China's electricity consumption has generally been in line with the economic operation situation. "The rapid growth of electricity consumption in high - tech and equipment manufacturing industries reflects the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure and the expansion of production activities," Lin Boqiang, the dean of the China Energy Policy Research Institute at the School of Management of Xiamen University, told reporters from Time Weekly.
Data shows that from January to July, the added value of high - tech manufacturing industries increased by 9.5%, 3.2 percentage points faster than that of industrial enterprises above the designated size; in the equipment manufacturing industry, four major industries, namely railway, ship, aerospace and other transportation equipment; electrical machinery and equipment; computers, communication and other electronic equipment; and automobiles, led the growth, with growth rates of 16.2%, 11.9%, 10.9%, and 10.9% respectively.
Meanwhile, behind this rapid growth trend, the "Two New" policies (a new round of large - scale equipment renewal and trade - in of consumer goods) have played a boosting role.
Currently, industrial development is gradually shifting from relying on scale expansion to focusing on optimizing the existing stock and improving quality and efficiency. This also conforms to the development strategy pointed out in the Central Economic Work Conference in 2023, which stated that "we should be guided by improving standards for technology, energy consumption, emissions, etc., and promote large - scale equipment renewal and trade - in of consumer goods."
Since this year, large - scale equipment renewal has been accelerated. The National Development and Reform Commission has also allocated 188 billion yuan in ultra - long - term special treasury bonds to support 8,400 projects in industries such as industry, energy - using equipment, energy and power, and transportation. Currently, the subsidy funds for equipment renewal have been fully allocated.
With the support of policies, in order to improve production efficiency, product quality, and market competitiveness, enterprises' demand for high - end and intelligent advanced equipment has increased. Data shows that from January to July, investment in equipment, tools, and instruments increased by 15.2% year - on - year, 13.6 percentage points faster than total investment and driving total investment growth by 2.2 percentage points.
The increased investment means that a large number of orders are flowing to equipment manufacturing enterprises and gradually spreading to the upstream raw material and component supply chains. In other words, factories have more work, machines run continuously, output naturally increases, and thus electricity consumption rises rapidly.
Looking at the consumer side, the trade - in policy has effectively stimulated consumers' demand for product upgrades. Data shows that as of the end of June this year, the trade - in of five major categories of consumer goods, including automobiles, household appliances, digital products such as mobile phones, home decoration, and electric bicycles, has driven total sales of over 1.6 trillion yuan, exceeding the sales volume of consumer goods trade - in in 2024.
It is worth noting that among these five major categories of products, there is a boom in automobile trade - in. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, as of May 31 this year, the number of subsidy applications for automobile trade - in reached 4.12 million. In addition, the trend of new - energy vehicles cannot be ignored. In the first five months of this year, new - energy vehicles accounted for more than 53% of automobile trade - in.
It can be seen that the gradual implementation of the "Two New" policies helps to digest existing inventories on the one hand, and on the other hand, forces factories to increase production and ensure supply, thereby driving up electricity consumption in relevant fields.
Non - fossil Energy Accounts for More Than Half
The policy dividends are not only reflected in the industrial sector but also spread to the service industry. From January to July, the electricity consumption of the information transmission industry and the charging and battery - swapping service industry increased by 15.5% and 42.6% respectively.
Specifically, when factories upgrade traditional equipment to intelligent production lines, industrial robots, sensors, and cloud - based control systems need to be connected to the network in large numbers, resulting in a sharp increase in real - time data traffic. The requirements for bandwidth, computing power, and low latency also increase accordingly, directly driving up the electricity consumption of the information transmission industry.
The rapid growth of the charging and battery - swapping service industry is closely related to the rapid expansion of the number of new - energy vehicles and supporting infrastructure.
As of the end of June this year, the number of new - energy vehicles in the country reached 36.89 million, accounting for 10.27% of the total number of vehicles. Meanwhile, charging facilities have also expanded simultaneously. The total number of electric vehicle charging facilities has reached 16.1 million, including 4.096 million public charging facilities and 12.004 million private charging facilities.
In terms of power generation, at a press conference on the national energy situation in the first half of the year and the grid - connected operation of renewable energy in the first half of the year held by the National Energy Administration, Liu Mingyang, the deputy director of the Power Department, introduced that in the first half of this year, the total charging volume of new - energy vehicles in the country reached 54.923 billion kilowatt - hours, and the annual charging volume is expected to be equivalent to the annual power generation of the Three Gorges Power Station.
This means that emerging industries represented by new - energy vehicles are becoming a new growth point for electricity consumption.
However, Lin Boqiang added that although the electricity consumption growth rate in popular fields such as artificial intelligence and new energy is relatively fast, their high growth rate is partly due to the small base. From the overall electricity consumption structure, heavy industry remains the main body of electricity consumption. Taking 2023 as an example, heavy industry accounted for about 80% of industrial electricity consumption.
Heavy industry still relies on thermal power generation, using coal as an energy source. Coal is a non - renewable resource, and if its combustion process is not properly handled, it can easily cause pollution and increase carbon emissions. Against the background of the "dual - carbon" goal, how to coordinate and achieve effective substitution of renewable energy remains a challenge in the energy field.
To solve this problem, the country is actively building a new power system and promoting the green and low - carbon transformation of the energy structure.
According to data from the National Energy Administration, after the installed capacity of wind and solar power generation in the country exceeded that of thermal power for the first time in history at the end of March, the proportion of non - fossil energy power generation installed capacity exceeded 60% for the first time at the end of May. In the first half of this year, the power generation of renewable energy in the country reached 1.79 trillion kilowatt - hours, accounting for about 39.7% of the total power generation.
On this basis, the National Energy Administration issued a notice in June on organizing and carrying out the first batch of pilot projects for the construction of a new power system, planning to conduct pilot projects in seven directions, including grid - forming technology, system - friendly new - energy power stations, intelligent micro - grids, coordination between computing power and electricity, virtual power plants, large - scale and high - proportion new - energy power transmission, and a new generation of coal - fired power plants.
However, this is not only an innovation in energy technology but also a comprehensive test that requires answering the questions of "ensuring power supply, promoting development, reducing emissions, and maintaining stability and safety" simultaneously.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Time Weekly” (ID: timeweekly). Author: Alimire. Republished by 36Kr with permission.