China set a new high for electricity consumption at 6.406 billion kwh Wednesday, the State Grid Corporation of China (SG) announced Thursday.

This was 107 million kwh more than the previous record high set on June 29, the SG said.

Also Wednesday, the Chinese capital city of Beijing imposed its first brownout this year, which lasted 47 minutes in the afternoon, saving 70,000 kilowatts of electricity consumption while affecting some of the capital's suburbs, according to the Beijing Municipal Power Supply Bureau.

The security of the power supply has become a serious issue for the rapidly growing economy of China, according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The National Meteorological Center predicts that high temperatures will linger in most parts of southern China regions for the coming 10 days.

"So China will still see new record highs of power consumption in the days to come," the SG said.

In 2003, China's electricity consumption surged 15.4 percent over the previous year to 1.89 trillion kwh, setting a record high for the past 25 years.

China predicts a total gap of about 30 million kilowatts between electricity demand and supply this summer. This is the most severe power shortage since the 1980s, the SG has announced.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2004)