Stern punishment of those responsible for massive power outage will prevent recurrence

SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- For five hours on Thursday South Korea fell into utter chaos due to a massive power outage conducted without prior notice. Starting at 3 p.m., the Korea Power Exchange, the state-run power distributor, cut the power supply for 30 minutes alternately in various regions out of fear that the peak demand in the afternoon would bring forth a nationwide blackout. The exchange officials said the unseasonably high temperatures pushed up demand to what they called "dangerous levels" and forced them to temporarily cut power. The power outage affected 1.62 million homes and quite a few roads experienced congestion with traffic lights down. Thousands of people were stuck in elevators and had to call for help. A total of 417 bank branches faced business delays and services at some automated teller machines were temporarily halted, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. Many industrial sites and livestock farms reported damage as well. The authorities cited the sharp rise in demand due to the unusually high temperature as the reason for the power cut, but they were harshly criticized for suspending the operation of many power stations for maintenance. "Unusually high temperature led to a surge in power demand, which spurred an overload amid an ongoing maintenance of some power plants. Temporary power cuts lasting for 30 minutes per region were inevitable," Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Joong-kyung said in a written apology. Critics say the mishap was due to wrongly predicting electricity demand and the simultaneous maintenance of a large number of power plants. Operation of 25 power plants, including three nuclear ones, was suspended for maintenance. The authorities failed to notice the potential for the rise in electricity demand because many factories restarted operations after the Chuseok holiday. It was nonsensical that the authorities suspended operation of so many power plants for maintenance, testing the level of reserve power. It was also a problem that the knowledge economy ministry, which is the top authority in charge of power supply, has not received any prior report on the power outage. The ministry is also charged for failing to take necessary measures even after it got a report from the KPX. The KPX is also responsible for making such extreme decisions without pre-approval from the ministry and did not notify consumers of the power cut in advance. The knowledge economy minister apologized to the people and vowed to prevent the recurrence of a similar incident. This is not sufficient. Those who are found responsible should be sternly punished. There is also a view that the electricity cost is relatively cheap and that power is being wasted. It may be proper for the authorities to ask people to voluntary reduce their electricity consumption.