BEIJING, April 14 -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, saw an increase in the first quarter of this year.

Total power use in China rose 3.6 percent year on year in the first three months to 2.12 trillion kilowatt-hours, data from the National Energy Administration showed on Friday.

Electricity consumed in the primary, secondary and tertiary industries respectively rose 9.7 percent, 4.2 percent and 4.1 percent year on year to 26.6 billion, 1.38 trillion and 369.6 billion kilowatt-hours.

Residential power consumption logged an increase of 0.2 percent from the same period last year to total 342.4 billion kilowatt-hours.

In March alone, the country's power use increased 5.9 percent year on year to 736.9 billion kilowatt-hours.