Electricity output in China's major power plants jumped 13.7 percent year-on-year in the first five months to meet greater demand.

Power generators with installed capacities of at least 6,000 kilowatts produced 1.39 trillion kilowatt hours (kwh), the China Electricity Council said on Thursday.

Of the total, coal-fired power plants produced 1.19 trillion kwh, up 12.3 percent annually; hydropower stations produced 159.8 billion kwh, up 19.5 percent; nuclear power stations produced 27.9 billion kwh, up 34.2 percent.

Power consumption rose 12.4 percent to 1.4 trillion kwh from January to May, the industry association noted.

During the period, China invested 100.5 billion yuan (US$14.6 billion) in expanding power generation capacity, helping add 23.4 million kw of installed capacity, it said.

Power companies continued to improve energy efficiency as they produced one kwh of electricity out of 347 grams of coal on average, 7 grams fewer than a year ago.

Many power companies started reporting huge losses this year as the government refrained from raising electricity prices to offset coal cost increases, fearing such hikes might add further upward pressures to the already high inflation.

China's consumer inflation rose 8.1 percent in the five months through May, well above the government target of 4.8 percent for all of 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2008)