Data released by China's National Energy Administration on Wednesday (October 21) showed that from January to September 2026, the country's total electricity consumption reached 8,073.4 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%. Among them, the domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents was 1,234.6 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year decrease of 0.3%.
"Yicai Global" combed through official data and found that this is the first time in the past ten years that the cumulative growth rate of electricity consumption for urban and rural residents nationwide has turned from positive to negative during the statistical period from January to September.
On a monthly basis, the decline in residential electricity consumption was mainly concentrated in August and September. In August 2026, the domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents nationwide was 188.3 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year decrease of 4.0%; in September it further dropped to 121 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year decrease of 6.0%.
Before August, the cumulative growth rate of residential electricity consumption still maintained positive growth. From January to August 2026, the domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents nationwide was 1,113.2 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%. With consecutive single-month year-on-year declines in August and September, the decline in September further expanded compared with August, which lowered the growth rate of electricity consumption in the entire society, and the cumulative growth rate in the first three quarters finally turned negative.
Judging from the data for the same period in the past three years, the growth rate of residential electricity consumption has shown obvious changes. From January to September 2024, the domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents nationwide increased by 12.6% year-on-year; in the same period in 2025, it increased by 5.6%; in the same period in 2026, it decreased by 0.3%.
"Yicai Global" analyzed that compared with the data from the three quarters of the previous two years, this year's cumulative negative growth in the same period for the first time in the past decade was due to factors such as extreme weather disturbances. For example, the increase in heavy rainfall from typhoons in August this year led to a significant reduction in air-conditioning power consumption.
The official website of the National Energy Administration also stated that the decline in residential electricity consumption in September was mainly due to the impact of extreme weather such as Typhoon Sadr. The demand for cooling electricity in high-load areas such as Central China, East China, and South China decreased in early to mid-September.
"Yicai Global" further pointed out that in September, the electricity consumption of urban and rural residents in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui and Fujian all experienced double-digit declines year-on-year. Among them, Shanghai had the largest decline, at 27.8%; Zhejiang and Jiangsu dropped by 22.6% and 22.1% respectively.
Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Energy Policy Research Institute at Xiamen University, told China Business News that residents’ electricity consumption is easily affected by climate factors. As residents' living standards improve, the growth in electricity demand is largely reflected in energy-consuming appliances such as air conditioners, and air conditioner electricity consumption is highly dependent on temperature conditions.
However, Lin Boqiang believes that this decline in residential electricity consumption is a short-term phenomenon. As the penetration rate of electric vehicles increases significantly, residential electricity consumption is expected to maintain growth in the medium to long term.
In contrast to the decline in residential electricity consumption, industrial electricity consumption continues to grow, but the growth rates vary in different fields.
Wu Liqiang, assistant director of the Statistics and Digital Intelligence Department of China Electricity Council, said that the secondary and tertiary industries are the "main engines" for the growth of electricity consumption in the whole society. The pattern of "new rising and old falling" continues within the manufacturing industry, with high-tech and equipment manufacturing maintaining rapid growth. The consumer goods manufacturing industry is one of the sectors that contributes significantly to the growth of electricity consumption in the manufacturing industry, in addition to high-tech and equipment manufacturing. The high-tech and equipment manufacturing industry consumed 116.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in September, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%. Judging from the cumulative data in the first three quarters, from January to September, the electricity consumption of this sector reached 961.9 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%.
The growth rate of electricity consumption in the tertiary industry is higher than that in the secondary industry. New energy vehicle charging and swapping services and Internet data services are becoming important sources of growth in China's electricity consumption.
In August 2026, the electricity consumption of the charging and swapping service industry was 17.2 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 51.2%; the electricity consumption of Internet data services was 10.2 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 37.9%.
In September, the electricity consumption of the country's tertiary industry was 185.2 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%. Among them, the electricity consumption of the charging and swapping service industry was 16.8 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 57.0%; the Internet data service industry consumed 9.8 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 35.4%.
Judging from the cumulative data in the first three quarters, the electricity consumption of the tertiary industry reached 1,610.9 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. The electricity consumption of the charging and swapping service industry and Internet data services were 131.5 billion and 79.3 billion kilowatt hours respectively, a year-on-year increase of 55.4% and 41.6% respectively.
The China Electricity Council previously predicted that China's total social electricity consumption will increase by 5% to 6% year-on-year in the second half of the year.
