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Kepco's electric bill decision is delayed again
2022-06-26
Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) said Monday it is postponing a final decision on raising power rates for the third quarter at the request by the government.
Kepco was supposed to announce any change to electricity charges on Tuesday.
Changes to electric bill rates are supposed to be announced on the 21st of the month before a new quarter starts. A similar delay took place last March. It lasted a week.
In a statement Monday, Kepco said it is negotiating with the government. In the second quarter, rates were frozen from the first quarter.
On June 16, Kepco submitted a proposal to raise electricity rates to the maximum amount, which is 3 won ($0.0023) per kilowatt hour.
Under a billing system adopted in 2021, Kepco can raise or lower rates 3 won per kilowatt hour in a quarter depending on the global energy price. It also asked the government to raise the maximum level of change from 3 won per kilowatt hour to 5 won.
Kepco says higher electric bills are inevitable due to rising global energy prices and its own operating losses, which totaled 7.8 trillion won in the first quarter.
That exceeded the 5.9 trillion won operating loss for all of last year, which was a record for the company.
Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho stressed Monday that Kepco’s key role is a stable electricity supply and keeping bills at a rational rate, as they have direct impacts on people’s lives.
“Kepco should have come up with a variety of options,” Choo said in a press briefing. “But it seems they didn't so more negotiation between the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Kepco is needed.”
Choo accused Kepco of mismanagement over the past five years.
Kepco has been asking for rate hikes since last year after operating losses in 2018 and 2019. It made profit in 2020 but largely because of the fall in global energy prices caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The losses are blamed on energy policy changes including the phasing out of nuclear energy and an increase in renewable energy sources. Kepco’s requests for rate hikes under the new billing system were mostly denied.
The Moon Jae-in government cited inflation as its reason for freezing electric bills.
The Yoon Suk-yeol government on Sunday announced that while utility bills will have to go up, the rate of increase will be kept to a minimum.
Korea’s consumer prices in May rose 5.4 percent year-on-year, the highest rate in nearly 14 years.
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