(Yicai Global) May 6 -- State Grid and China Southern Power Grid, the country’s two state-owned electric utility giants, reported big earnings hits in the first quarter after the coronavirus epidemic choked off power consumption.

Beijing-based State Grid had its first quarterly loss in a decade, posting a CNY926 million (USD131.1 million) net loss on a 9 percent dip in revenue to CNY568.8 billion (USD80.2 billion) in the three months ended March, according to data that China Central Depository & Clearing disclosed on its website. That compares with a net profit of CNY15.4 billion (USD2.2 billion) a year earlier.

Net profit at China Southern Power Grid, which is headquartered in Guangzhou, slid 81 percent to CNY827 million, according to the same source. Its revenue dropped 10 percent to CNY108.2 billion.

The nation’s electricity consumption fell nearly 7 percent to 1.57 trillion kilowatt-hours in the quarter due to the Covid-19 epidemic, according to data from the China Electricity Council. The two power generators also cut the cost of electricity for companies by as much as CNY59.5 billion to mitigate the epidemic’s impact.

Industrial customers, except for those in the fields of petroleum, coal, and chemical raw materials, have been given a 5 percent discount on electricity prices from February to June, the National Development and Reform Commission said earlier.

But power demand is returning as the country gets back to work and life normalizes. In the first 20 days of last month, clients of China Southern Power Grid in secondary industry used more electricity than they did during the same period last year, while the recovery in tertiary industry is also picking up, the Economic Daily reported.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Emmi Laine