ID :
208098
Mon, 09/19/2011 - 15:59
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/208098
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Parliament grills gov't over massive blackout
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) - In a rare move, rival parties joined hands Monday to blame the government for last week's massive power outages that left millions of homes without power and blasted its slow response to control damage.
South Korea reported massive blackouts last Thursday as unseasonably high temperatures pushed demand to what authorities called "dangerous levels." The development forced temporary power cuts that affected more than 2.1 million households and affected numerous businesses.
Lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties accused the government and the Korea Power Exchange (KPX), a state firm that distributes power, of failing to follow established guidelines and ignored warning signs.
They also charged that the Ministry of Knowledge Economy may have been misinformed about critical developments that could have led to a total blackout of the entire country. Such a development could take days to repair and disrupt the entire country.
"Fabrication of the power reserve level is an illegal practice that the knowledge ministry and the KPX are widely aware of," main opposition Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Kang Chang-il said at an annual parliamentary audit session.
Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung admitted on Sunday that he had received a false report about the electricity reserve level as energy operators failed to gauge the exact amount of power production at the time. He said the actual reserve rate dropped to very low levels.
The KPX had initially maintained that power production stood at 70.7 million kilowatts with demand reaching 64.0 million kW which left a reserve of 6.71 million kW, but its CEO Yeom Myong-chun said reserve rates fell below the 3 million kW level just before noon and dropped to a low of 890,000 kW of demand at around 2 p.m. that forced the cutting off of power.
"Operators should have issued alarms earlier, but they did not think it was serious," the director conceded.
Related to the mishap and lack on proper reporting, the DP said that because there was false reporting involved, the entire incident and the breakdown in oversight should be investigated by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
Other lawmakers called for the setting up of a strengthened comprehensive emergency management system to cope with such developments in the future.
"The biggest problem is that the government did not know that it was misinformed about reserve level until Friday," said Rep. Park Jin of the ruling Grand National Party. He also questioned whether Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the country's sole power service provider, and its affiliates can afford to compensate for losses caused by the blackout.
Minister Choi said he thinks that KEPCO, KPX and their affiliates should secure funding for compensation.
"The ministry will start taking reports of damage from the public so compensation can be made," he said. "Estimates of damage will be available after we receive all claims."
Lee Hak-jae, another GNP lawmaker, criticized what he called a slow government response to the incident.
"A sudden power suspension can be considered a national disaster, such as a typhoon or earthquake. There should be a system that makes it mandatory to inform people of the incident immediately," he said.
Rep. Kim Nak-sung of the minor opposition Liberty Forward Party, said it is necessary to raise the electricity reserve rate to 15.6 percent as early as possible.
During the parliamentary session, some opposition lawmakers demanded President Lee Myung-bak apologize for the incident.
"I don't understand whether the president was informed or how he responded. He did not give a word of apology about what happened," said an opposition lawmaker, adding the parliamentary committee adopt a resolution to call for a public apology from the President.
Others argued that the root cause of the unprecedented incident lies on special treatment of large companies that use large amounts of electricity.
The electricity rate for industrial use is relatively low in South Korea, compared with other countries such as Japan and the United States.
Hyundai Steel Co., the nation's second largest steelmaker, paid 303.9 billion won (US$269.1 billion) for its electricity consumption last year, which would have gone up to 808.3 billion won if the company was based in Japan, analysts said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik offered a public apology for the power outage, saying, "I will set up an inspection team, comprised of representatives from all government ministries, to reveal the cause of the accident and clarify who is responsible."
South Korea reported massive blackouts last Thursday as unseasonably high temperatures pushed demand to what authorities called "dangerous levels." The development forced temporary power cuts that affected more than 2.1 million households and affected numerous businesses.
Lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties accused the government and the Korea Power Exchange (KPX), a state firm that distributes power, of failing to follow established guidelines and ignored warning signs.
They also charged that the Ministry of Knowledge Economy may have been misinformed about critical developments that could have led to a total blackout of the entire country. Such a development could take days to repair and disrupt the entire country.
"Fabrication of the power reserve level is an illegal practice that the knowledge ministry and the KPX are widely aware of," main opposition Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Kang Chang-il said at an annual parliamentary audit session.
Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung admitted on Sunday that he had received a false report about the electricity reserve level as energy operators failed to gauge the exact amount of power production at the time. He said the actual reserve rate dropped to very low levels.
The KPX had initially maintained that power production stood at 70.7 million kilowatts with demand reaching 64.0 million kW which left a reserve of 6.71 million kW, but its CEO Yeom Myong-chun said reserve rates fell below the 3 million kW level just before noon and dropped to a low of 890,000 kW of demand at around 2 p.m. that forced the cutting off of power.
"Operators should have issued alarms earlier, but they did not think it was serious," the director conceded.
Related to the mishap and lack on proper reporting, the DP said that because there was false reporting involved, the entire incident and the breakdown in oversight should be investigated by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
Other lawmakers called for the setting up of a strengthened comprehensive emergency management system to cope with such developments in the future.
"The biggest problem is that the government did not know that it was misinformed about reserve level until Friday," said Rep. Park Jin of the ruling Grand National Party. He also questioned whether Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the country's sole power service provider, and its affiliates can afford to compensate for losses caused by the blackout.
Minister Choi said he thinks that KEPCO, KPX and their affiliates should secure funding for compensation.
"The ministry will start taking reports of damage from the public so compensation can be made," he said. "Estimates of damage will be available after we receive all claims."
Lee Hak-jae, another GNP lawmaker, criticized what he called a slow government response to the incident.
"A sudden power suspension can be considered a national disaster, such as a typhoon or earthquake. There should be a system that makes it mandatory to inform people of the incident immediately," he said.
Rep. Kim Nak-sung of the minor opposition Liberty Forward Party, said it is necessary to raise the electricity reserve rate to 15.6 percent as early as possible.
During the parliamentary session, some opposition lawmakers demanded President Lee Myung-bak apologize for the incident.
"I don't understand whether the president was informed or how he responded. He did not give a word of apology about what happened," said an opposition lawmaker, adding the parliamentary committee adopt a resolution to call for a public apology from the President.
Others argued that the root cause of the unprecedented incident lies on special treatment of large companies that use large amounts of electricity.
The electricity rate for industrial use is relatively low in South Korea, compared with other countries such as Japan and the United States.
Hyundai Steel Co., the nation's second largest steelmaker, paid 303.9 billion won (US$269.1 billion) for its electricity consumption last year, which would have gone up to 808.3 billion won if the company was based in Japan, analysts said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik offered a public apology for the power outage, saying, "I will set up an inspection team, comprised of representatives from all government ministries, to reveal the cause of the accident and clarify who is responsible."
