South Korea’s peak electricity consumption shot up to a new all-time high Thursday as temperatures dropped to the lowest so far this winter.

The peak demand surged to 76.93 million kilowatts at 10:18 a.m. with the average consumption between 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. coming to 76.52 million kilowatts, according to the state-run Korea Power Exchange.

Such a record demand came as the mercury dropped to as low as minus 16.4 degrees Celsius in Seoul, the lowest since the ongoing cold season began.

The electricity reserve rate, however, remained well above what is considered a safe level of 4 million kilowatts as two 1-million kilowatt nuclear reactors were put back to work earlier in the week. The reserve level was at around 4.6 million kilowatts as of 2 p.m., according to the Korea Electricity Power Co.

In December alone, the KPX was forced to issue five preliminary warnings for a power shortage as the electricity reserve level fell below 4 million kilowatts. (Yonhap News)