China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, hit record highs for two consecutive months in July and August, driven by a combination of multiple rounds of heatwaves and a sustained economic recovery, industry insiders said.

The country's total power use, which first broke the 1-trillion-kilowatt-hours mark in July, continued its growth last month with a 5-percent year-on-year increase to nearly 1.02 trillion kilowatt-hours last month, according to data from the National Energy Administration.

This summer, a series of early and persistent heatwaves have swept across China, which spurred a rapid climb in electricity consumption from the tertiary industry and households. In July, the national peak power load hit record highs on multiple occasions.

Meanwhile, production capacity across industries has steadily expanded, boosted by a series of supportive government policies, said Jiang Debin, an expert with the China Electricity Council.

Power use by the secondary industry, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total, sustained its recovery, logging a 5-percent year-on-year increase in August. The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than in July and 1 percentage point higher than the same period last year.

In August, electricity consumption by China's manufacturing sector rose 5.5 percent year on year, marking the highest growth rate so far this year, said Jiang.

The recovery was particularly strong in raw material industries such as steel, building materials, non-ferrous metals, and chemicals, where total power use increased by 4.2 percent, up 3.7 percentage points from July.

Beyond reflecting a sustained economic recovery, the power consumption data indicates the accelerated emergence of new growth drivers in China.

In August, power consumption by the high-tech and equipment manufacturing sectors rose 9.1 percent year on year, outpacing the average growth rate for the sector as a whole by 4.6 percentage points.

Driven by rapid advances in mobile internet, big data, and cloud computing, the internet and related services sector saw its electricity consumption surge 28.8 percent year on year from January to August.

In the period, power use in the new energy vehicle manufacturing sector climbed 23 percent from a year earlier. Driven by the rapid growth of electric vehicles, power use for battery charging and swap services surged 44.1 percent year on year.

The China Electricity Council expects faster electricity consumption growth in the second half, due to heatwaves in the third quarter and a low comparative base from the fourth quarter of last year. It forecasts annual growth of 5 percent to 6 percent in 2025.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), China's electricity demand is expected to maintain sustained rigid growth, underpinned by the country's long-term positive economic fundamentals, said Zhang Lin, another expert with the council.

Meanwhile, emerging sectors including computing infrastructure, NEVs, and green hydrogen production are gaining momentum, and becoming new drivers of power demand, with national consumption forecasted to exceed 13 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2030, said Zhang.