South Korea’s per-capita power use, which had been on a steady rise, was higher than that for major advanced economies. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s per-capita electricity use hit an all-time high in 2018 as the country was gripped by the worst-ever heat wave, data showed Monday.
The country’s electricity use per person came to 10.2 megawatt hours (MWh) last year, up 3.3 percent from the previous year and a new record, according to the data by the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO).
South Korea suffered record high summer temperatures last year, prompting people to turn on their air conditioners for longer periods of time.
The country witnessed the hottest summer in 111 years that pushed up household electricity to 72,895 gigawatt hours (GWh), up 6.3 percent from a year earlier.
The number was the highest tallied since Seoul started compiling related data in 1993.
South Korea’s per-capita power use, which had been on a steady rise, was higher than that for major advanced economies.
According to data by the International Energy Agency (IEA), South Korea’s per-capita electricity use stood at 10.6 MWh in 2016, higher than 8 MWh for Japan in 2016, 7.2 MWh for France, 7 MWh for Germany and 5 MWh for Britain. Canada and the United States had higher numbers of 14.8 MWh and 12.8 MWh, respectively.
Experts attributed South Korea’s high per-capita power use to its electricity rates that were much lower than those for major industrialized nations, including Japan and Britain.
(Yonhap)
