Dive Summary:
- China has released data about its 2012 power usage and usage rate growth, which declined for most of the year, but bounced back in Q4.
- A release with commentary from Deutsche Bank analysts Michael Tong, Eric Cheng, and Kai-Ting Wong pointed out that 4Q12 use increased by 7.5% yoy, reversing a trend since March 2012 that had seen the national monthly growth rate decline.
- Use for tertiary industry and residential users increased by 11.5% yoy and 10.7% yoy to 569bn kWh, while industrial power consumption increased by 3.9% yoy to 3,606bn kWh.
- Consumption in West China grew 8.3%, outpacing 4.4% growth in East China and 4.9% in Central China.
From the article:
"... BofA Merrill Lynch economist Ting Lu suggests there is little reason for electricity consumption to be manipulated, writing, 'China's local officials might be incentivized to over-report some macro indicators such as GDP and FAI, but they have little incentive to over-report use of energy including electricity as Beijing imposes increasingly restrictive regulations on energy use per unit of GDP on local governments.' ..."
