South Korea's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) pledged Wednesday to play an active role in cutting back on electricity use during the peak summer months.

Members of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, the Korea Federation of Retail Organizations and the Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association met in Seoul to give support to government-led efforts to cut back on electricity use.

The SME organizations said they will voluntarily reduce power use to ensure there is no shortage of power.

Small shops around the country have moved to keep indoor temperatures at 26 C and said they will take steps to keep their doors and windows closed during operating hours to save energy.

The move comes as South Korea's power reserves have fallen to the 4-5 million kilowatt hour level from May onwards, mainly due to unseasonably hot weather and a drop in electricity output.

Temperatures have risen as high as 10 C in recent weeks compared to the year before causing people to turn on air conditioners. The closure of three nuclear power reactors, with combined output of 2.6 million kilowatts per hour, for maintenance purposes, also reduces power reserve levels.

Under current guidelines, the government is forced to take emergency measures such as adjusting voltage if power reserves fall below 4 million kilowatt hours. The authorities said that electricity reserves fell to just 3.16 million kilowatt hours on June 7, which could have led to shortages. (Yonhap News)