AI Data Insight
China's urban and rural residential power consumption in August 2026 decreased by 4.0% YoY. Although the decline narrowed slightly compared to the previous reading of -5.1% in July, it still marked a second consecutive month of contraction. Increased rainfall and cooling temperatures reducing air conditioning demand were the main causes. However, driven by the robust expansion of emerging industries such as electric vehicle (EV) charging and battery swapping as well as data centers, China's overall power consumption still hit a record high.