China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, saw steady expansion in September, rising 4.5 percent year-on-year to reach 888.6 billion kilowatt-hours, according to the National Energy Administration.

Power consumption in the primary and secondary industries rose 7.3 percent and 5.7 percent year-on-year, respectively, while the tertiary sector saw a 6.3 percent increase, it said.

However, residential electricity consumption dropped by 2.6 percent year-on-year, totaliong 128.7 billion kilowatt-hours.

The China Electricity Council attributed the increase in electricity consumption to both the hot summer weather and government policies aimed at stabilizing industrial growth.

Electricity consumption in July and August reached high levels and saw rapid growth, sustained by strong macroeconomic policy support for ongoing economic recovery, said Jiang Debin, deputy director of the China Electricity Council's statistics and data center.

The broader economy also maintains a warming trend and production capacity across various industries are being steadily unleashed, he added.

From January to September, China's total power use climbed 4.6 percent to nearly 7.77 trillion kilowatt-hours.

According to the council, driven by the rapid development of mobile internet, big data and cloud computing, electricity consumption by the Internet and related services industry saw a year-on-year increase of 33.8 percent in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the electric vehicle sector maintained its rapid growth, with electricity consumption for charging and battery swap services surging by 49.6 percent year-on-year, it said.