In May 2026, China completed 626.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity market transactions, a year-on-year increase of 23.6%. In the first five months, the cumulative traded electricity directly exceeded the 3 trillion mark, reaching 3057.3 billion kilowatt hours, with a year-on-year growth rate of 24.8%. The overall scale of market-oriented electricity trading is still steadily increasing.

Splitting the transaction structure reveals a clear trend of differentiation, with the growth momentum of intra provincial transactions far stronger than cross provincial and cross regional transactions, and significant differences in the expansion pace of different trading varieties.

Domestic transactions become the main driver of growth

The monthly transaction electricity within the province was 490.6 billion kilowatt hours, with a year-on-year growth rate of 26.9%. In the first five months, the cumulative transaction electricity within the province was 2436.1 billion kilowatt hours, with a year-on-year growth rate of 28.5%, contributing more than 80% of the market transaction increment. In contrast, the monthly electricity traded across provinces and regions was 136.2 billion kilowatt hours, with a year-on-year growth rate of 12.9%. The cumulative electricity traded in the first five months was 621.2 billion kilowatt hours, with a year-on-year growth rate of 12.2%, which was significantly lower than that of intra provincial transactions.

This indicates that the market-oriented trading activity of local users consuming local electricity nearby is higher, and cross regional electricity circulation is still constrained by transmission channels and inter provincial trading rules, and the growth elasticity has not been fully released yet.

The growth rate of green electricity remains stable

In terms of trading varieties, the cumulative total of 267.94 billion kilowatt hours in the first five months of medium and long-term trading remains the absolute mainstay of market trading. The cumulative amount of spot trading electricity in the first five months was 377.9 billion kilowatt hours, steadily increasing its proportion to the total trading electricity. In May, the single month spot trading scale also reached 65.1 billion kilowatt hours, and the smooth operation of spot markets in many places has significantly improved. Keywords: trading electricity, electricity market

In the first five months of green power trading, the cumulative electricity volume reached 136.4 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%. In May, the monthly electricity volume was 31.1 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%, maintaining a stable overall growth. In the first five months of market-oriented proxy purchase of electricity by power grid enterprises, a total of 325.9 billion kilowatt hours were accumulated, and the scale of small and medium-sized users covered is still expanding. The coverage of electricity marketization is further expanding.Editor/Cheng Liting