BEIJING, Nov. 15 -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, continued stable expansion in October, official data showed on Wednesday.

Power usage climbed 8.4 percent from a year ago to 741.9 billion kilowatt-hours last month, according to the National Energy Administration.

Power consumption by primary industries increased by 12.2 percent year on year, while power consumption by secondary and tertiary sectors rose by 8.6 percent and 14.4 percent, respectively.

Residential power usage saw a year-on-year decrease of 0.7 percent to 86.2 billion kilowatt-hours in October, the administration said.

In the first 10 months, the country's electricity consumption rose 5.8 percent from a year ago to 7.6 trillion kilowatt-hours.