Beijing will face another electricity shortage this summer, with expected supply gap of one million kilowatts, said an official with the municipal Development and Reform Commission Thursday.

Wang Haiping, vice director of the commission, told a press conference that Beijing will need 10.7 million kilowatts electricity at maximum this summer, according to Friday's Beijing News.

Wang said that measures will be taken to avoid blackout, which includes arranging 131 major businesses to stop production during the peak electricity consuming time. Other measures include adjusting usage by offering different electricity prices to peak and off-peak hours.

According to Wang, Beijing will coordinate with power grids in other parts of China to ensure that supply to the capital will increase by 350,000 kilowatts during summer.

Beijing will also accelerate upgrading its power grids by investing 2.02 billion yuan (about US$243 million) to resolve the shortage.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2005)