An electricity shortfall of 25 million kwh has been predicted by the State Power Grid Corporation (SPG), the China Securities Daily reported Thursday.

To remedy the situation, the largest power grid company in China has decided to input more than 100 billion yuan (about US$12.09 billion) on the construction and renovation of power grids.

Of the 20,000-kilometer-long transmission lines to be built this year, transmission lines of 5,556 kilometers has been put to use by the end of June, said the article.

SPG statistics showed that the first quarter has seen a total of 26 provincial power grids temporarily switch off electricity supply to alleviate power shortage.

According to a forecast by the North China Power Grid Company, the region around Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan of north China's Hebei Province suffered a combined power shortfall of 1.85 million kwh.

In a breakdown, the maximum capacity for Beijing power grids hit 10.7 million kwh, up 13.4 percent over a year earlier, causing a shortfall of more than one million kwh. The maximum capacity for Tianjin power grids reached six million kwh, facing a shortfall of half a million kwh.

Deputy general economic administrator Xie Zhiguo of the Beijing Power Company said that the capital of China has mapped out a series of measures to avoid the power demand at rush hours.

A peak price has been put to pilot use among industrial consumers and will be practiced among all users by 2008 except residents, subway, trolley buses and farming irrigation, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2005)