Last month, the industrial use of power recorded its highest increase rate in seven years and 10 months after January of 2002. The Electricity Regulatory Commission of the Department of Knowledge Economy stated that the sale of power last month has increased by 8.6% compared to the year before. The sale of industrial power, accounts for 56% of the total sales, and has increased by 12%. This is the greatest increase after January 2002 (13.5%).The reason the sales of industrial power has peaked is because the global financial crisis last November plummeted sales of power by 3.9%. In addition, the rise in key exports including steel (26%), chemical products (16.6%), machinery equipment (16.3%), and semiconductors (12.3%) has caused the demand of energy to rise, thus raising sales. The sale of residential and general power has risen by 5.5% and 4.1% respectively. Also, due to the change in heating methods at schools, the educational sale of power has risen by 13.8% compared to last year. Following the rise of the sale of power, the record for maximum demand for power has been set during winter. According to the Korea Power Exchange (KPX), the maximum power usage on the December 7th 18:00 set the new record of 63million 292thousand KW, which is 80 thousand KW more than the power usage on August 19. It is normal for the maximum usage of power to surface during the summer when people use cooling devices like an air conditioner, but this year, the maximum amount power was used during the winter.