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Today (31st), the last day of January, February gas bills have arrived in some areas.

This month, when the bitter cold came, the bills we had spent for a month came out, and the common people are deeply sighing at the heating bills that have jumped up once again.

Not only this, starting with taxis, public transportation fares are expected to rise one after another in the future.

Now, let's take a closer look at each of these.

Let's start with the stories of people who have received gas bills that they are afraid to even check.



Reporter Kim Gwan-jin covered this.



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A traditional market in Mapo-gu, Seoul.



Many of the merchants here received their February gas bills today.



However, when I checked the rate, which rose to a greater extent than in January, when it soared, I couldn't stop sighing here and there.



This porridge house, which paid 500,000 won for gas last month, will have to pay close to 900,000 won for February.



[Lee Seon-suk/President of Porridge House: (Gas bills) I almost fainted to think this much would come out.

I can't even do business.

I'll have to close the business.

Because it's hard...

.]



Most of them have risen by more than 1.5 times, and at most, more than 2 times the January rate.



[Kim Seon-soon/President of the side dish shop: I was told how many 90,000 came out last month, so I didn't pay because I was upset.

I didn't spend anything, but I asked if I would do that, and this time it was 150,000 won.

It has risen too much.]



On the Internet, people who checked the February rate in advance using the gas rate app continued to write.



Each of them couldn't hide their shock and embarrassment, such as "I was hit by a charge bomb even though I only used the boiler at night and for bathing."



Residential city gas consumption for January, which usually has more cold days, increased by more than 23% compared to December.



This year, there is a possibility that the usage itself has increased due to the cold wave, but the increase in the rate that the common people experience is more than the increase in usage.



In addition, a 9.5% increase in electricity rates from January is also reflected.



In the case of using electric heating products such as electric pads or heaters, it is expected that the electric heating cost, which will be announced in February, will rise significantly, so the burden of maintenance costs is expected to increase significantly.



(Video coverage: Park Hyeon-cheol, video editing: Hwang Ji-young)