A recession has cut Taiwan's electricity consumption, local media said Tuesday.

Industrial electricity use from October to February slid 16.8 percent from the comparable 2007-2008 period, according to the Taiwan Power Co. (TPC). Residential use fell 8.6 percent.

Power use had grown last year until November, when consumption by the steel, petrochemical and information technology sectors began to plunge, the Taiwan economic authority head Yiin Chii-Mingwas quoted as saying.

TPC chairman Edward Chen said the largest decline in use, of about 30 percent, was recorded in the steel sector, with the petrochemical and textile industries cutting power consumption 20 percent each.

Source: Xinhua