Factory owners in China and their customers worldwide have been told to prepare for power supply disruptions becoming part of life as President Xi Jinping doggedly weans the world’s second-biggest economy off its dependence on coal.

Months of shortages have cut power to households in China’s north-east and caused outages at factories across the country. But energy demand is still surging amid record demand for Chinese exports, and the problems will be compounded by the prospect of freezing temperatures in winter.

Despite a flurry of central government interventions, spearheaded by premier Li Keqiang, Chinese manufacturers and multinationals alike have been urged to boost energy efficiency in their factories and speed up investment in renewable energy.