WUHAN — The power grid of Wuhan saw a maximum load of 12.31 million kilowatt on Aug 4, the highest since the city's outbound traffic restrictions due to COVID-19 were lifted in early April.

The capital city of Hubei province is home to the largest urban power grid in Central China, and the figure was close to its historic peak of 12.76 million kilowatt on July 29 last year.

Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, Wuhan's total electricity consumption dropped about 15 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2020. The city has gradually resumed production and social activities under regular epidemic prevention and control.

In the first seven months, the power consumption of Wuhan's IT manufacturing sector rose some 27 percent, while that of the petroleum and chemical industries increased around 20 percent year-on-year, according to Yang Hong, deputy general manager of the State Grid's Wuhan power supply company.

More than half of Wuhan's top 100 industrial enterprises in terms of July power consumption used more electricity than the same period of last year, Yang added.