<Anchor>



We decided to charge more for companies that use a lot of electricity.

Large companies, which account for 0.2% of the contract number, account for half of the total electricity usage, but they were getting cheaper electricity.

The government also decided to lower the heating temperature of public institutions.



It is said that KEPCO's deficit is large enough to have to carry out even such a campaign, but reporter Jung Jun-ho examined how effective it would be.



<Reporter>



KEPCO has decided to increase electricity rates by up to 9.2 won per kWh for companies that use a lot of electricity.



It is the first time in 9 years that KEPCO differentially adjusted industrial rates.



Samsung Electronics, the company that consumes the most electricity in Korea, paid 1.74 trillion won in electricity bills last year.



An increase in industrial electricity rates can increase production costs and fuel inflation, but KEPCO explains that an increase is inevitable as low-priced industrial electricity has been identified as the main cause of KEPCO's deficit.



At the same time, the government has set a goal to reduce energy use by 10% this winter.



Public institutions said they would lower the heating temperature to 17 degrees and ban the use of personal heaters.



[Chu Kyung-ho/Deputy Prime Minister of Economy: (Public institutions) We will implement the five winter energy saving practices such as limiting heating temperature and turning off landscape lighting, and we will strengthen the management evaluation of public institutions this year on the results.]



Companies in their 30s, which consume a lot of energy, have also ordered energy use reduction.



The plan is to reduce the burden on KEPCO by reducing energy demand itself and to improve the trade deficit caused by energy imports.



However, these measures do not significantly reduce KEPCO's deficit.



KEPCO is expected to lose more than 30 trillion won this year, and the Ministry of Industry expects that it will be able to reduce the deficit by only one-tenth of the current rate increase alone.



In addition, if the war in Ukraine continues and unrest in energy supply continues, it seems inevitable that the electricity rate hike will be unavoidable next year.



(Video Edit: Choi Hye-young)



▶ Electricity and gas prices rise sharply…

4 person household 7,670 won↑