BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, rose 5.8 percent year on year in April, official data showed.

Total power use reached 553.4 billion kilowatt hours last month, according to the National Energy Administration.

Specifically, power use by the secondary industry increased by 4 percent, and that by the tertiary industry 10.5 percent.

Power use in the first four months totaled 2.23 trillion kilowatt hours, up 5.6 percent from one year earlier.