BEIJING -- China's power consumption growth slowed further in August as factory activity and industrial output posted weaker growth amid the economic downturn.

The National Energy Administration said Friday that the China's total electricity consumption grew only 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 449.5 billion kilowatt hour.

The August data brought electricity consumption in the first eight months to 3.28 trillion kWh, up 5.1 percent year-on-year, easing further from the 5.4 percent seen in the first seven months of 2012, according to NEA data.