(Yicai) Dec. 19 -- China’s electricity and natural gas consumption has reached a record high as temperatures plummet to an all-time low in some parts of the country, but there is sufficient energy supply to meet the surging demand.

Electricity consumption peaked at 1.2 billion kilowatts on Dec. 17 and that of natural gas hit 1.4 billion cubic meters, said Li Chao, spokesperson for the country’s macro-economic planner National Development and Reform Commission. This is 83 million kW and 108 million cbm more than the previous high last year.

China has sufficient supply of electricity and has generated 25.5 billion kilowatt-hours a day on average since the country's central heating period began on Nov. 15, which is an increase of 8.7 percent from the same period last year, according to NDRC data. While the supply of natural gas has risen 5.8 percent over the period to 1.25 billion cubic meters

There is ample supply of coal as sinking global prices have made it cheaper to import coal than to buy locally produced coal, even when adding freight, said Zhang Feilong, head of think tank Yimei Research Institute. The price of some imports is now lower than long-term coal contracts, he added.

China’s coal imports surged 62.8 percent in the first 11 months from a year earlier to 430 million tons, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs.

China has enough energy supply this winter compared with 2021 when there was a shortage in some areas, Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University, told Yicai. The linking mechanism between the price of coal and electricity has helped overcome some barriers to supply.

“Extreme snow and rain in some places may affect the transportation and use of coal in these areas, but in general, the supply of coal-generated power is guaranteed nationwide,” Lin said.

Many parts of China also use renewable energy sources such as natural gas and geothermal power for heating.

Editor: Kim Taylor