Electric Power Use Hits Record High

Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MCIE) and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPC) announced that the electricity consumption hit 41.06 million kW, the record high, at noon on Tuesday.

This is about 50,000 kW more than the peak demand last year of 41.01 million kW recorded August 18 last year. However, this did not reach the anticipated maximum consumption of 43.44 kW, marking 18.5 percent rate of the reserved electric power.

A KEPC official said that ``the electricity use jumped sharply as the discomfort index increased due to lingering rainy spells and high temperature, which had more people turn on their air conditioners. Although the electric power use hits record high in June every year, the time has been belated this year due to the economic stagnation and the progressive stage system on the electricity charge.``

The MCIE said that the supply of electric power is not a problem as the country has about 7.61 million kW in reserve. However, considering the situation that more than 97 percent of energy is dependent on imports, it requested people to reduce the duration of using air conditioners, while maintaining the room temperature at 26-28 degrees Celsius.

Kim Sang-Chul sckim007@donga.com