Koreans Use More Electricity than Germans, Japanese
South Korea’s per-capita electricity use exceeded those of Japan, Britain and Germany last year.
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) announced on May 27 that South Korea’s per-capita electricity use increased from 9.9 MWh in 2017 to a record high of 10.2 MWh last year.
During the same period, South Korean households used 72,895 GWh of electricity in total. The amount increased 6.3 percent from a year ago and reached an all-time high since records began in 1993.
The electricity use per customer rose 4.8 percent to 5.2 MWh in the household sector and rose 1.4 percent to 22.3 MWh in the public service sector. On the other hand, it fell 0.6 percent to 137.2 MWh in the industrial production sector. The increase in the household sector can be attributed to the sweltering heat of last summer and the decline in the industrial sector can be attributed to last year's economic recession.
South Korea’s per-capita electricity use doubled in 18 years last year. The electricity use per consumer in the three sectors increased 46.8 percent, 9.9 percent and 10.7 percent in 18 years, respectively.
According to International Energy Agency (IEA) data, South Korea’s per-capita electricity use was 10.6 MWh in 2016, when those of Taiwan, Japan, France, Germany, Britain, China and North Korea were 10.9 MWh, 8 MWh, 7.2 MWh, 7 MWh, 5 MWh, 4.3 MWh and 0.6 MWh, respectively.