CHINA, one of the world's biggest energy-consumers, is expecting power shortages in southern, eastern and central provinces this summer as rising demand exceeds output.

The biggest problem will lie with provinces in the south which will be short of 8 million kilowatts, Yu Yanshan, an official with the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, said yesterday.

Guangdong, China's manufacturing hub, will face a deficit of 5.5 million kilowatts, he said.

China experienced its fifth consecutive year of power shortfalls last year. The economy grew 10.6 percent in the first quarter, spurring demand for electricity to run factories.

The nation's power producers increased output by 16 percent from a year earlier, generating 1.383 million megawatts as of May 29, Yu said in a Webcast on the government Website yesterday. Power demand will rise 12 percent this year, and supply and demand will generally be balanced, he said.

The power grid in the southwestern province of Sichuan, where an 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit on May 12, had reached 85 percent of the capacity before the disaster, Yu said.

The quake disrupted 5.28 million metric tons, or 6.5 percent, of the province's coal supply, he said.

Power supplies to 46 of the 54 counties disrupted by the earthquake have been restored, Yu said. The quake also damaged hydroelectric dams in the area and the government is monitoring the situation closely, he said.