Beijing's electricity use has hit an all-time high, state media reported Tuesday, raising the prospect of serious shortages in China this year as coal supplies at power stations drop to emergency levels.
Country-wide power consumption was at its highest level in five years on Friday with Beijing alone draining a record 12.03 million kilowatts, Xinhua news agency said citing State Grid Corp, China's largest electricity supplier.
However, coal reserves in 64 of the company's 541 plants fell below the three-day alarm level on Sunday, and another 181 were below the seven-day level, it said.
Short coal supplies forced 58 generator sets in the country's north and east to halt operations temporarily, Xinhua added.
Officials said in June that the country was expecting a maximum daily power shortage of 10 million kilowatts in summer, when demand spikes as a result of the increased use of air-conditioning.
