Unexpected heat wave leads to temporary blackouts

(ATTN: RECASTS lead paras; UPDATES with additional information throughout; RESTRUCTURES) SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea reported massive blackouts Thursday due to unseasonably high temperatures that pushed up demand to what the authorities called "dangerous levels," forcing them to temporarily cut power causing inconvenience for businesses and private citizens. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the power outages were largely caused by unexpectedly high demand while many of the country's power plants, including nuclear reactors, were temporarily shut down for maintenance. "There were many power plants that began their annual maintenance as the hot season passed. Demand was unusually high today while they were preparing for the cold season," a ministry official said. Power outages were reported in various parts of Seoul, including the financial district of Yeouido, and many areas throughout the country, according to the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the country's sole power service provider. No serious damages were reported as most companies, including financial institutes, have their own emergency generators. "Individual customers may have experienced some inconvenience, but we have yet to receive any report of damages from financial institutions," said an official from the Financial Supervisory Service, the country's financial watchdog. The blackouts temporarily affected services by the country's mobile phone service providers. The state-run power distributor, Korea Power Exchange (KPX), said it began alternately cutting power supplies to neighborhoods or districts for up to 30 minutes from 3:30 p.m. onwards as the country's electricity reserve rate fell to as low as 6 percent, far below the 7 percent level that is considered the safe margin. A depletion of power reserves could cause a nationwide blackout, which could take days or even weeks to repair, according to ministry officials. The KPX said power services should return to normal at 8 p.m.