CHINA'S electricity consumption increased 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 416.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) in April, the National Energy Administration said yesterday.

The growth rate, widely used as a barometer to measure economic activity, indicated an upward trend, as it accelerated from March's 2-percent growth and a 12.5-percent drop in February, the NEA data showed.

In the first four months of 2013, China used 1.63 trillion kwh of power, up 4.9 percent from a year ago, the NEA said.

During the period, electricity consumed by the service industry rose the most, up 9.1 percent from last year, followed by 4.7 percent in the secondary industry and 1.5 percent in the primary industry.