BEIJING — China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, rose 4.5 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2019, the country's top economic planner said on Sept 18.

Power use by the secondary industry increased by 3 percent, and that by the tertiary industry 8.8 percent, according to Meng Wei, a spokesperson with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Some 28 provincial regions saw a growth in electricity consumption, with the use in four regions expanding over 10 percent, Meng said.

In August alone, the country's power use grew 3.6 percent year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points higher than that in July, according to Meng.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that China's power generation climbed 1.7 percent year-on-year to 668.2 billion kilowatt-hours in August, a faster growth than the 0.6-percent rate recorded in July.

In the January-August period, power generation rose 2.8 percent year-on-year to 4.7 trillion kilowatt-hours, the NBS data showed.