BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, continued its steady growth in August, according to data from the National Energy Administration on Tuesday.

The country's total power use increased 5 percent year on year to nearly 1.02 trillion kilowatt-hours last month, according to the data.

A breakdown of the data shows robust growth across various sectors.

The primary industry saw a notable 9.7 percent increase in power consumption, which totaled 16.4 billion kilowatt-hours.

The secondary industry consumed 598.1 billion kilowatt-hours, up 5 percent from a year ago, while the tertiary industry registered a 7.2 percent rise in power use to 204.6 billion kilowatt-hours.

Power consumption by the country's residents rose 2.4 percent to 196.3 billion kilowatt-hours.

In the first eight months of the year, China's total electricity consumption climbed 4.6 percent year on year to nearly 6.88 trillion kilowatt-hours.