The Beijing municipal government canceled its plan to reduce power during peak hours to the city's star-rated hotels.

　　According to an urgent notice issued by the Beijing Municipal Tourist Bureau on Monday, the air-conditioner use plan of "2 hours on and 1 hour off" was scrapped.

　　However, the notice said: "The hotels must reduce power consumption."

　　Hotels were advised to wash laundry at night and keep air conditioners set to temperatures at 26 degrees Celsius or above. Hotel employees were also told not to use elevators unless it was to go five floors or more.

　　The emergency plan for power consumption during peak hours, put forward one week ago by the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, met with objections from tourism authorities and hotels, the Beijing Times reported yesterday.

　　"Hotels are an important industry reflecting the image of a city and serve as a platform for international exchanges," tourism officials and hotel representatives said.

　　They added that mandated power cuts would bring losses to hotels, harm their international image and reflect poorly on Beijing.

　　According to the cit's tourist bureau, media reports about the power cut plan caused concern with overseas tourism agencies. It cited a letter sent by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong.

　　The letter reportedly said hotel power cuts would reduce the number of tourists willing to visit the capital.

　　But it's not just Beijing that is suffering.

　　The country faces its most severe power shortage since the 1980s. A gap of 30 million kilowatts exists across the nation between electricity demand and supply, State Power Grid Company officials said earlier.

　　A total of 24 provincial areas in the country enforced power brownouts in the past few months.

　　Beijing used to be carefree about power usage, but now faces a difficult period, according to Beijing Vice Mayor Zhang Mao. He said that the city might impose brownouts this summer as the power shortage deteriorates nationwide.

　　Nearly 60 percent of the city's power supply comes from other parts of the country.

　　"Beijing should also join the national conservation efforts and may impose brownouts at some point this year," Zhang said.

　　(Xinhua)