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China's total installed generating capacity is expected to exceed 500 million kw in 2005 and the total electricity consumption is estimated at 2.4 trillion kw/h, said a senior official of the China State Electricity Regulatory Commission here Thursday.

At a news briefing, Shi Yubo, vice chairman of the commission, said that an additional generating capacity of about 65 million kw will be put into operation this year.

With the improvement in the performance of major power grids nationwide, the scope and scale of power blackout and supply restriction will see a decline in 2005, he said.

According to him, by the end of 2004, the country's total installed generating capacity reached 440 million kw and the total electricity generation for 2004 amounted to 2.187 trillion kw/h, representing a year-on-year increase of 14.8 percent.

China's total electricity consumption stood at 2.173 trillion kw/h last year, up 14.9 percent over the previous year.

Ma Kai, minister in charge of the State Development and Reform Commission, has said China would continue to experience a power shortage this year.

Starting from May 1, China raised the electricity prices for industrial and commercial users by 0.3 cents per kilowatt-hour in a bid to cope with coal prices hike.

The coal prices in China have increased continuously since last June and many electricity generating companies have reported losses.

Due to the rapid growth of economy over the past years, power shortages have become a major issue in many parts of China. Twenty-four of 31 province-level regions on the Chinese mainland suffered from power shortages in 2004, compared with 19 in 2003.