South Korea’s state-run power company said Sunday that it will send mobile text messages to the public in the event of low electricity reserves in a bid to swiftly alert people to potential power outages.

The move comes one month after the country was caught off guard by one of the worst power cuts in its history, which affected major cities and more than 820,000 households. Authorities attributed the nationwide blackout on Sept. 15 to an unseasonable heat wave that coincided with low power supply during scheduled maintenance work.

Korea Electric Power Corp. said it has laid out guidelines for sending emergency mobile text messages to the public as part of measures to quickly disseminate information on power emergencies.

According to the company, it will send out text message warnings to mobile phones during any of three emergency situations: when electricity reserves hit below 2 million kilowatts, when the government decides to conduct rolling power outages and when rolling power cuts go into effect.

The company is also pushing to broadcast warning messages through closed captioning and smartphone applications.

Following public criticism that the blackout was a man-made disaster, officials established hot lines between the state-run power company, Korea Power Exchange and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, KEPCO said, to reinforce communications among multiple agencies that oversee power supply and demand.

Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung offered to resign following the nationwide power outages last month, which trapped hundreds of people in elevators, shut down traffic lights and halted factory operations. It took around six hours to fully restore power. Despite his offer, Choi has remained in office for the time being. 

(Yonhap News)