BEIJING -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, saw an increase in the first quarter of this year.

Total power use in China rose 3.6 percent year-on-year in the first three months to 2.12 trillion kilowatt-hours, data from the National Energy Administration showed on Friday.

Electricity consumed in the primary, secondary and tertiary industries respectively rose 9.7 percent, 4.2 percent and 4.1 percent year-on-year to 26.6 billion, 1.38 trillion and 369.6 billion kilowatt-hours.

Residential power consumption logged an increase of 0.2 percent from the same period last year to total 342.4 billion kilowatt-hours.

In March alone, the country's power use increased 5.9 percent year-on-year to 736.9 billion kilowatt-hours.