Electricity consumption reaching record highs

By Kim Tong-hyung

Staff reporter

The country is continuing to break records for summertime electricity consumption, government officials said Sunday, as scorching temperatures have air conditioners running round the clock in homes and offices recently.

After reaching a new high of 63,274 million kilowatts (kW) on July 1, the record for electricity usage was broken six more times since then before peaking at 67.629 million kW at around 3 p.m. on July 22, according to the Knowledge Economy Ministry and the Korea Power Exchange (KPX).

The numbers for this summer are still lower than the record 68.963 million kW set in January, when icy weather kept heaters burning and high oil prices caused electricity to become the main heating source. However, the possibility of power disruption is a concern, albeit a remote one, according to the KPX.

The country’s electricity reserve rate, or the proportion of power saved for contingency situations, currently stands at 8.4 percent, and a rate below 8 percent represents a ``danger level,’’ according to the KPX. However, the consumption of electricity is expected to only rise in August when the days get even hotter.

``Judging from the rate of use between July 1 and 20, the daily consumption of electricity has risen by more than 9 percent compared to the same period last year,’’ said a KPX spokesman.

``There have been tropical nights since July 18 and the daily-lows in temperatures were above 25 degrees Celsius in some regions, so it was understandable that we have been shattering records in summertime power consumption. However, we still have more than 4 million kW in reserve, so blackouts aren’t a possibility.’’