电力月报：9月用电量增速超预期，火电边际改善显著

Investment Rating - The report maintains an investment rating of "A" for the electricity and public utilities sector, indicating a positive outlook for the industry [1]. Core Insights - In September, electricity consumption growth exceeded expectations, with significant improvements in thermal power margins. The total electricity consumption from January to September reached 74,094 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%, which is 2.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year [1][16]. - The report highlights that all sectors of electricity consumption maintained growth, with notable increases in the tertiary industry and urban-rural residential electricity usage in September [1][21]. - The report suggests that the demand for electricity may further increase due to the development of new productive forces and the trend of energy substitution, with short-term electricity consumption growth expected to remain above GDP growth [1][3]. Summary by Sections 1. September Market Review - The CS electricity and public utilities sector rose by 18.26% in September, underperforming the CSI 300 index, which increased by 20.97% [1][14]. - Among the sub-sectors, thermal power increased by 13.63%, hydropower by 11.96%, and other power generation by 13.98% [1][14]. 2. Electricity Consumption 2.1 Overall Electricity Consumption - From January to September, total electricity consumption reached 74,094 billion kWh, with September alone seeing consumption of 8,475 billion kWh, marking an 8.5% year-on-year increase [1][16]. 2.2 Sector-wise Consumption Growth - Cumulative electricity consumption for the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, as well as urban-rural residents, showed respective year-on-year growth rates of 6.9%, 5.9%, 11.2%, and 12.6% from January to September [1][21]. 3. Power Generation 3.1 Power Generation Volume - From January to September, power generation increased steadily, with a total of 70,560 billion kWh generated, reflecting a 5.4% year-on-year growth [1][34]. - In September, thermal power generation reached 5,451 billion kWh, up 8.9% year-on-year, while hydropower generation decreased by 14.6% [1][34]. 3.2 Equipment Utilization - The average utilization hours of power generation equipment slightly decreased in September, with an average of 291 hours, down by 2 hours year-on-year [1][48]. 3.3 New Capacity Additions - From January to September, new installed capacity reached 24,258 MW, with solar power accounting for 66.3% of the total new installations [1][50]. 4. Investment Trends - Total investment in power generation projects reached 595.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%, while grid investment grew by 21.1% to 398.2 billion yuan [1][58].