Power shortages 'hit China'

China says it badly needs the electricity the dam will generate

Power prices in China may have to rise to cope with the power shortages spreading across the country, the state media reported on Friday.

According to the English-language China Daily, power consumption rose by almost a sixth in the first half of this year as economic growth topped 8%.

Blackouts are expected to multiply in the east and south of the vast country, the paper said.

In response, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission is boosting prices in peak times by as much as five times.

It is also considering getting rid of the preferential tariffs introduced for heavy users such as metal producers during a power glut some years ago.

Dam opening

The announcement comes little more than a week after the first generator at the controversial Three Gorges Dam was plugged into the nation's electrical grid.

Flooding is a big problem in China

The dam is on an unprecedented scale, both in size and in the number of people forced to move to make way for the massive lake it will create.

Once all 26 generators are on-stream, the Chinese governments says they will produce more than 80 billion kWh of electricity each year.

But critics say that the ecological impact of flooding a vast swathe of the basin of the Yangtse river will be hugely damaging.

Some also believe that the already high risk of flooding on the plains will increase further, a charge given particular relevance by recent heavy flooding in Anhui province.

And even before power generation began, cracks started appearing in the dam's structure, giving support to detractors' accusations of shoddy workmanship and corner-cutting.