Shanghai power-use hits winter record high

In Shanghai, a sudden plunge in temperatures on Tuesday, saw the city hit a record high in power consumption of close to 20 million kilowatts. An increase of 18 percent from the year before. Authorities say demand started to rise from 7 in the morning before hitting a peak 3 and a half hours later.

But power supplies were kept stable throughout the course of the day, with power plants saying they were prepared for any sudden spikes in consumption.

Zhu Jixin, Deputy Chief Engineer of Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co. said "As arranged by the government, we switched on all natural gas plants to increase power supplies on Tuesday. While plants in Caojing currently under trial were also able to generate up to 1 million kilowatts."