Beijing University is setting a monthly quota on electricity consumption by its students beginning the upcoming new semester in September in the hope of cutting its overall power usage.

An undergraduate will be allowed eight kwh of electricity a month free of charge, while a postgraduate can use nine to 13 kwh and a doctorate, 14 kwh, a source with the university's General Affairs Department said Monday.

Students living together in same dorm will be asked to pay for power over the set limits, the source said.

Currently, a kwh of electricity costs householders in Beijing 0.48 yuan (6 U.S. cents).

"Generally speaking, the quota can satisfy the basic need of students for electricity. We hope the students could cultivate a good habit of economizing on electricity," a university official said.

The Beijing University has an enrollment of nearly 30,000 students.

A number of universities in Beijing and other Chinese cities have already set different monthly quotas on electricity consumption for their students.

The Tsinghua University and the Chinese People's University will give six free kwh of electricity a month to each student, and the Beijing Institute of Technology puts its quota at four kwh a month.

China has been facing power shortage in recent years. The total power consumption is expected to reach 2.74 trillion kwh this year, and the maximum gap between power demand and supply will be about 9 million kwh across the country this summer, said Zhao Zunlian, chief engineer with the State Power Grid Development Company.