China's power generation stood at 286.73 billion kilowatt hours in March, marking a new high since last October, the People's Daily reported Tuesday.

Power generation has always been considered to be an important indicator of economic trends. In March, although power generation fell by 0.71 percent year-on-year, the decline rate dropped by 1.89 percent compared to February. Moreover, daily electricity generation increased by 10.38 percent month-on-month.

In total, China generated 781.1 billion kilowatt hours in the first quarter of this year, with the rate of decline falling by 2.84 percent compared to the fourth quarter in 2008.

According to the latest statistics from China Southern Power Grid (CSG), the rate of power consumption in the first quarter has stopped falling. As the 4-trln-yuan stimulus package starts to make itself felt and the temperatures in China begin to climb, CSG sold 105.8 billion kilowatt hours in the first quarter, dropping by only 0.7 percent compared to the fourth quarter in 2008.

For more details, please read the full Chinese coverage at:

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-04/14/content_232369.htm

(China.org.cn by Yan Pei April 14, 2009)