China's power use up 3.1 pct in November

China's power use witnessed slightly slower but still stable growth in November, adding to evidence of a continued recovery in the broader economy.

The nation's electricity consumption climbed 3.1 percent from a year ago to 671.8 billion kWh last month, putting the average growth for the same period over the past two years at 6.6 percent, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said Thursday.

"The country's economy maintained its stable recovery and the power use of the whole society kept growing," the NEA statement said.

In November, the power consumed in the primary and secondary industries rose by 14 percent and 0.8 percent from a year ago, respectively, while the figure for the tertiary industry went up 8.7 percent. Residential power consumption saw a yearly increase of 9.5 percent last month.

In the first 11 months, the nation's power consumption totaled 7.5 trillion kWh, up 11.4 percent year on year.

China's economy has held up well despite downward pressures, with expanding retail sales, industrial output and fixed-asset investment, as well as a falling unemployment rate, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday.