On January 17, the National Energy Administration announced that China's total electricity consumption for 2025 has historically surpassed 10 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh), reaching 10.4 trillion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 5%. This figure is a global first for a single country, equivalent to more than twice the United States' annual electricity consumption and exceeding the combined annual electricity use of the European Union, Russia, India, and Japan. As a barometer of economic activity, this milestone achievement vividly demonstrates the robust resilience of China's super-large-scale economy and clearly reflects the forward trajectory of industrial structure upgrading and the green transformation of the economy.
The breakthrough in total electricity consumption is driven by multiple factors. Yang Kun, Executive Vice Chairman of the China Electricity Council, pointed out that the fundamentally sound and improving macroeconomic situation has laid a solid foundation for electricity consumption growth. Concurrently, persistent high temperatures coupled with the rising electrification level of end-users have further driven up the demand for residential electricity. It is the interplay of these two forces that resulted in the全社会用电量 (total electricity consumption) exceeding one trillion kWh for two consecutive months, July and August of 2025, setting a new global record.
More notably, it took China just over a decade to increase its annual electricity consumption from 5 trillion kWh to 10 trillion kWh, a growth rate unparalleled among the world's major economies. This not only confirms the inherent development strength of China as a major manufacturing nation but also reflects the comprehensive improvement in its energy security capabilities. Currently, with the accelerated implementation of new quality productive forces, high-end manufacturing is becoming the core engine driving electricity consumption growth. In 2025, electricity consumption growth rates in the new energy vehicle and wind power equipment manufacturing sectors exceeded 20% and 30%, respectively.
Simultaneously, the rapid development of the digital economy and emerging technologies has spawned a new batch of electricity consumption growth points. The accelerated construction of new infrastructure such as charging piles and 5G base stations drove the electricity consumption of the internet and related services industry to increase by over 30% year-on-year, with the growth rate for the battery swapping and charging industry approaching 50%. Behind these figures lies the accelerated shift of China's industrial structure towards high-technology and high value-added directions. The vigorous vitality released by emerging industries is continuously injecting momentum into high-quality economic development.
Facing the dual test of increasing total load and structural upgrading on the power system, its stable and orderly operation has been the key support safeguarding this 10 trillion kWh "report card." China has currently established a supply guarantee system where the three sectors—power source, grid, and demand—work in synergy: On the power source side, the foundational and securing role of coal power continues to be solidified, with hydropower, nuclear power, and thermal power working together to strengthen the base, while wind and solar new energy act as the main incremental force, relying on the rapid deployment of pumped storage and new-type energy storage to effectively smooth output fluctuations.
On the grid side, facility maintenance and inspections before peak summer and winter demand periods are conducted diligently, key power transmission and transformation projects are commissioned on schedule, and inter-regional and inter-provincial transmission channels fully leverage the role of the large grid platform, enabling various power sources and storage facilities to complement each other spatially and adjust temporally. On the demand side, the construction of a national unified electricity market is accelerating, with policies like time-of-use pricing and peak-valley pricing being implemented based on local conditions to guide users to actively shift usage away from peaks and into valleys, achieving a dynamic match between electricity demand and power supply.
While electricity consumption from emerging industries is steadily increasing, the overall growth rate of electricity consumption in China's high-energy-consuming industries has declined. Among them, electricity consumption in the smelting and pressing of ferrous metals and the non-metallic mineral products industries showed a downward trend. Although other sub-sectors experienced growth, this did not alter the overall trajectory of energy conservation and consumption reduction within these industries. In recent years, accelerated structural adjustment, energy-saving renovations, the gradual phase-out of outdated capacity, and the widespread application of advanced energy-saving technologies in high-energy-consuming industries have driven a continuous decline in energy consumption per unit of GDP, making the composition of GDP "newer" and "greener."
Yang Kun stated that the 10 trillion kWh milestone confirms the solid foundation of China's manufacturing sector and the steady improvement in the electrification level of people's livelihoods. It further reflects the upgrading of the energy supply system and the effectiveness of building a new-type power system. Behind the 10 trillion kWh figure are the resolute strides of the industrial structure towards high-technology and high value-added sectors, the firm direction of green and low-carbon transformation, and powerful proof of the Chinese economy's steady, long-term progress and remarkable resilience.
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