Guangzhou may not be so bright in future if a plan to turn off decorative lighting due to electricity shortages goes ahead.
Local power authorities had proposed cutting electricity supply to the energy-hungry 'bright-light scheme' to ease the growing gap between consumption and supply, the Information Times reported.
An official at the Guangzhou Power Supply Company said the lighting scheme used 18,000kWh of power a day, accounting for 70 per cent of the main city area's electricity.
The scheme, common in many mainland cities, has illuminated many of Guangzhou's tall buildings since the Lunar New Year.
According to the supply company, the daily gap between electricity consumption and supply in Guangzhou is between 500,000 and 600,000kWh.
The official was quoted as saying that the lighting scheme was important for the city's image, but officials were running out of options amid the growing power shortage.