SEOUL, OCT 23 – South Korea’s government power station operator, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) announced today that it will increase electricity bills for industrial use while electricity bills for households and small shops remain unchanged.
The action will cause industrial energy bills to increase by 9.7 percent on average starting tomorrow.
The power rate for large companies will increase by 10.2 percent while the rate for small and medium companies will increase by 5.2 percent.
KEPCO said the higher power rate reflects higher production costs, impacted by rising global prices for crude oil. It also noted that the rise in electricity charges is inevitable to repair critical infrastructure and expand the electricity grid for future advanced industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI).
The state power utility posted a combined loss of about 41 trillion won (US$29.7 billion) for the three-and-a-half years to the first half of 2024, while total debt stood at about 203 trillion won (US$147 billion) at the end of June this year. – Xinhua
