The nation avoided issuing a warning on a power shortage on Monday as electricity consumption demand did not sharply increase despite the cold temperature, officials said.

Nonetheless, the prolonged cold spell is threatening the nation’s power demand management skills, they said.

The Korea Power Exchange, which predicts power demand and supply on a daily basis, had expected to put an alert on power reserves early Monday morning.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the morning temperature on Monday fell to as low as minus 11 degrees Celsius. Based on this weather forecast, KPE predicted power reserves could fall below 0.18 million kilowatts, the lowest level of the year, during the peak time in the morning between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Monday, as the power demand is expected to surge up to 77.5 million kilowatts.

To ease concerns of a power shortage, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the nation’s power authorities, promised to secure an additional 25.6 million kilowatts by managing power demand and increasing private-level power generation. The authorities must issue a warning if the power reserves fall below 1 million kilowatts, and can force heavy power consumers to cut usage.

During the peak time in the morning, actual power demand, however, stayed at 74.5 million kilowatts, 3 million kilowatts below the early morning estimate. Accordingly, the agency did not issue a warning.

Power demand management during the summer and winter has emerged as one of the nation’s top priorities for the past few years as the authorities failed to predict the continued rise in power demand. The growth rate of the power supply has fallen behind of that of power demand for the past five years.

The power authorities face the toughest time in their management this winter due in part to recent breakdowns of nuclear power plants. The power authorities and other power-related organizations prepares for a drill to sharpten thier power demand managment skills today.

“The nation’s power demand has exceeded the latest target, which was set in 2008,” an official of the Ministry said, hinting that the government will find an array of measures to increase power supply.

The ministry will issue an update on the five-year energy demand and supply plan this month, which will set guidelines for the nation’s energy policy for 2013 to 2017. 

By Seo Jee-yeon  (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)