This was revealed Wednesday by Sheng Bin, director of the Economic and Trade Bureau of Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province.

As one of the areas badly in need of power, the city would consume 28.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2003, up 15 percent from 2002, Sheng said.

The city plans to complete 47 key power projects this year.

Shenzhen has seen rapid growth in power demand due to its booming economy. Its electricity consumption topped 24.73 billion kilowatt-hours in 2002, up 23.4 percent year-on-year.

Shenzhen reduced its electricity charges by 15.6 percent in 2002, down to levels in other cities in the Pearl River Delta, saving consumers 2.2 billion yuan.

The biggest power consumers in Shenzhen are mostly joint ventures and companies set up by investors from China's Taiwan Province, and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions. They generated 328.19 billion yuan in industrial production in 2002, or 77.7 percent of the city's total industrial production.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2003)