BEIJING, April 17 -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, recorded robust expansion in March 2024, official data showed Wednesday.

Power use climbed 7.4 percent year on year to 794.2 billion kilowatt-hours last month, according to the National Energy Administration.

Specifically, power consumed by primary and secondary industries expanded by 7 percent and 4.9 percent year on year, respectively. Power used by the tertiary sector went up 11.6 percent.

China's residential power use in March registered a 15.8 percent increase from the same period last year, the data revealed.

In the first quarter of 2024, the country's power use increased by 9.8 percent to nearly 2.34 trillion kilowatt-hours.