The municipal government urged shopping malls in the city to reduce electricity consumption by 30 percent in the daytime from Monday to Friday, after the city's power usage climbed to record highs recently.

"The power consumption peak of shopping malls is at night and on weekends, which is different from that in the factories. So cutting the power use of shopping malls in the daytime will not impose great influence on the operation of shopping malls," Yuan Xiaofang, an official with the municipal trade and industry bureau, said Monday.

It is the first time that the government has called for reduced power consumption by shopping malls.

Huang Jianling, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart, said the company welcomed the move to save power. "In fact, we've been adopting a series of power-saving measures since June," she said.

The Guangdong Power Grid Corp. issued a red alert for power shortage in Shenzhen on Monday, signifying that electricity supply was very tight and the city needed to cut down on power use. On Monday, power cuts affected at least seven subdistricts in Longgang and Bao'an districts, according to the municipal power supply bureau.

The grid load in Shenzhen reached 8.51 million kilowatts Aug. 9, 1.04 million kilowatts higher than the maximum load last year. The Guangdong Power Grid Corp. predicted that the load would continue to climb as the temperature went up. Power users can check power cut information by calling the power supply bureau's hotline 95598.

Yuan's bureau has also asked shopping malls, hotels, restaurants and offices to set air conditioners at above 26 degrees Celsius, a regulation which was imposed last year but not seriously carried out.

Air conditioners account for more than 2 million kilowatts of the power load on Shenzhen's grid, or 30 percent of the total power use in the city. "If all the air conditioners set at below the required 26 degrees Celsius raise their temperatures by one degree Celsius, the city will save power by 5 to 8 percent," said Yuan.

(Shenzhen Daily August 16, 2006)