Concerns about blackouts

Key lies in saving power, reasonable price system

The whole nation seems to have fallen ill from the midsummer heat. But officials at Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) say a temperature rise of one degree sends a terrible chill down their spines.

An unexpected blackout last September forced some KEPCO officials to leave the company amid loud outcry. Few can say it won’t happen again if the weathermen are right to forecast this summer will be even hotter, moister and longer than the last.

The peak electricity demand was estimated to reach 73 million kilowatts Thursday, pulling down reserves to 4.04 million KW, a level dangerously close to the first emergency stage of requiring “attention.” The state utility company says unless all consumers cooperate in a power-saving drive, another blackout or at least some brownouts may be inevitable.

We can’t agree more. Korean consumers, industrial, commercial and household alike, are wasting too much power: Stores do business with their doors wide open while turning up air-conditioners to the full; offices and families keep computers on throughout the day; and factories rely heavily on electricity for their energy demands, as the abnormally low electricity prices become even cheaper for industrial users.

Compare this with the Japanese consumers, for whom “Pull it out!” has become an everyday phrase to save power by unplugging home appliances not in use.

In June, government officials boasted Korean households’ power consumption increased only 2.3 percent from last year, compared with a 5.6-percent rise in the 2000-2001 period. In the same month, however, Japanese families’ power consumption declined a hefty 13 percent from a year ago, showing the long way for Koreans to go.

The biggest culprit behind the profuse power consumption here is the unreasonable pricing system.

Currently, Korean industries use three times more electricity than their Japanese counterparts, and twice more than the U.S., for turning out the same gross domestic product. The nation’s electricity prices even account for just 87 percent of its production cost, leading KEPCO to call for a 13-percent price rise. The government makes up for losses at the state enterprise with taxpayers’ money. This is an unbelievably irrational system, which forces the people to later waste power at their own expense.

It is long past time for Korea to sharply raise electricity prices and introduce incentive systems for energy-saving individuals and businesses by applying differentiated rates.

Any adjustment of power rates to a more realistic level should also accompany strenuous self-reform efforts on the part of KEPCO by introducing not nominal but real competition systems. One of the so-called “God-coveting” state companies, KEPCO has been gripped by a moral lapse of too high wages and abundant fringe benefits for a company hemorrhaging losses for such a long time.

The heat wave and perilous power reserve predictably caused some people to call for resuming the operation of the shaky Gori 1 nuclear power plant. We beg to differ ― at least until officials can dispel all lingering concerns on safety among nearby residents. Korea can’t force a part of its people to take risks for the rest of the nation to keep wasting electricity.

In Korea’s power industry today, saving is producing. <The Korea Times>

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