BEIJING -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, rose 1.9 percent year on year in April, reaching 456.9 billion kilowatt hours (kwh), official data showed on Wednesday.

In the first four months, power consumption rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.81 trillion kwh, data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) showed on Wednesday.

Electricity use in the service sector rose 10 percent in the first four months, while the industrial sector and the agricultural sector saw increases of 9.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, the NEA said.

The different rates reflect positive changes in China's economic structure, as power use in the service sector grew faster than the industrial sector.