Electricity consumption in South Korea rises in Q1 on industrial demand

Electricity consumption in South Korea grew in the first quarter on the back of industrial demand, especially from chip-making and oil-refining sectors, a government report showed on Thursday.

Power supply reached 130.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) during the January-March period, up 1.8 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It was a rebound from a 0.9 percent reduction in the previous quarter.

The rebound came as industrial demand, which accounts for more than half of the total electricity consumption, increased on rising power consumption among chipmakers and oil refiners.

Industrial power supply grew 1.5 percent from a year earlier to 69.4 billion kWh in the first quarter, marking the largest growth since the third quarter of 2014.

Power consumption among chipmakers and oil refiners jumped 13.1 percent and 7.9 percent in the quarter.

Electricity supply for general use gained 3.5 percent, and power consumption for household usage rose 2.2 percent on strong demand for heaters caused by lower-than-usual temperature in the first quarter.