China’s August peak electricity load reached a record 1,560 gigawatts; internet-data-service electricity consumption grew 37.9% year over year.

According to National Energy Administration (国家能源局) information reported on September 20, China’s August 2026 electricity consumption reached 1,033.2 billion kilowatt-hours, up 1.7% year over year. The report described this as another month exceeding one trillion kilowatt-hours.

Peak electricity load reached a record 1,560 gigawatts, and load exceeded the previous year’s maximum on seven days. Peak load is a power measurement, distinct from the month’s cumulative electricity consumption measured in kilowatt-hours.

The China Electricity Council (中国电力企业联合会) identified emerging business activities as an important source of incremental electricity demand within services and the wider economy. Electricity consumption grew 51.2% in charging and battery-swapping services and 37.9% in internet data services; the report does not isolate AI workloads within the latter category or provide its absolute electricity consumption.