BEIJING — China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, increased 6.6 percent year-on-year in October, signaling the sound momentum of the country's economic recovery, data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) showed.

Total power use hit 617.2 billion kWh last month, according to the NEA data.

Specifically, power use by the primary and secondary industries increased 10.9 percent and 7.7 percent year-on-year in October, respectively, and that used by the tertiary industry edged up 3.9 percent from the same period a year ago.

Urban and rural residents' power consumption rose 4 percent year-on-year to reach 80 billion kWh last month, said the administration.

In the first ten months of this year, the country's power use increased 1.8 percent year-on-year to 6.03 trillion kWh.

Against the backdrop of sweeping efforts to stimulate growth, China's economic recovery has picked up steam, with the gross domestic product expanding 4.9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter (Q3), faster than the 3.2-percent growth in Q2, official data showed.