BEIJING — China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, expanded by 3.6 percent year-on-year in August, as the country's economy further recovers, official data showed.

Total power use came in at 760.7 billion kWh last month, the National Energy Administration said.

In August, power consumption by the primary and secondary industries rose by 13.7 percent and 0.6 percent from a year ago, respectively, while that used by the tertiary industry jumped by 6.2 percent year-on-year.

Residential power consumption saw a yearly increase of 12.5 percent last month.

In the first eight months of this year, China's power consumption totaled 5.5 trillion kWh, up 13.8 percent year-on-year, the data showed.