China's electricity consumption in the first quarter rose 24.19 percent year on year to 969.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWhs), the National Energy Administration (NEA) said in a statement on its website Tuesday.

The figure was 10.5 percentage points higher than the January and February total, showing the strong growth that began at the end of last year was continuing, the NEA said.

Power consumption in March totaled 343.5 billion KWhs, up 21.04 percent over the same time last year.

Consumption in the primary industry sector grew 9.77 percent from a year earlier to 19 billion KWhs.

Secondary industry consumption rose 27.57 percent to 715.7 billion kWhs while tertiary sector demand was up 17.47 percent to 109.8 billion kWhs.

Residential power use increased 14.96 percent to 127.8 billion kWhs, according to the statement.