With the end of the prolonged rainy season and arrival of midsummer heat, the nation’s electricity shortage is expected to reach its peak from late this week to early next week.

A heat wave is set to hit the peninsula from Thursday, after which the country’s electricity reserves may fall under the critical level, according to the Korea Power Exchange on Monday.

“The backup electricity level will remain stable in the early half of this week, as most of the highly energy-consuming companies are currently on their summer leave,” said an official.

“The government has also tightened its energy-savings campaign, through which it aims to cut some 5.3 million kilowatts of electricity this week.”

The sporadic regional showers, too, will keep the temperature from surging until Tuesday or Wednesday, he added.

After that, however, the country will be hit by a scorching heat wave, which may then lead to surging demand for air conditioning, according to officials.

“The midsummer electricity crisis, though it was postponed to a certain extent due to the long rainy season, may take place anytime this month,” said an official of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Unless drastic measures are taken, the nation’s backup power level is expected to fall as low as 1 million kilowatts, according to the KPX.

A first-phase emergency management system is to be activated when the corresponding figure falls below 4.5 million kilowatts or stays below 5 million kilowatts for 20 minutes or longer.

Power shortages during the summer season became a national point of concern when several nuclear reactors were suddenly suspended in May due to faulty components.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)