Electrical Bill to Rise for Households

The government will transform its current cumulative electrical charge system from six grades to five grades and adjust the base rates and electrical charges starting July at the earliest.

If the increment of electrical charges is not considered, electrical bills for households that use less than 200 kWh per month will increase 790 won or about 10 percent. On the other hand, electrical bills for households using more than 200 kWh will decrease 1,610 won on average or 5.1 percent.

The government and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) came up with such measures to change the electrical charge system for households. The measures will reduce the number of grades in electrical charges from the current six to five grades, and raise electrical bills for households using too little electricity to cover the production cost from July.

According to the measures acquired by the Dong-A Ilbo yesterday, the first three grades covering up to 300 kWh per month will be divided into two grades of 1-150 kWh and 151-300 kWh.

At the same time, the base rate for the first grade will increase from 370 won to 1,000 won and the kWh price will jump from 55.1 won to 65 won. The base rate and kWh price of the second grade will also increase to 2,500 won and 130 won, respectively.

On the other hand, they will increase the base rate for the third grade (301-400 kWh), fourth grade (401-500 kWh) and fifth grade (more than 500 kWh). But, they will not raise the kWh price for the three grades.

For example, a monthly electricity charge for a household using 100 kWh will increase from 5,880 won to 7,500 won and that for a household using 200 kWh will decrease from 35,150 won to 31,750 won.

However, the measures only reflect changes in the home electrical charge system. If the government announces its decision over how much to raise the electrical charge overall, the actual rates will likely to go up even more.

The government and KEPCO decided to reform the electrical charge system for households since electricity production costs have soared due to the rapid growth of prices of oil and soft coal, and that the current cumulative charge system has not been effective.

A KEPCO employee said, “84 percent of the households using less than 100 kWh per month are single families or homes with no permanent residents, not low-income households. We’ll come up with measures to protect the poor. Exempting them from the base rate system can be a good help.”

changkim@donga.com