[2020 National Audit] 25.8% Cancellation Rate of Electrical Equipment in Aging Apartments... "Need to Lower Self-Payment Ratio"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Kwang-ho] Recently, the rate of power outages in aging apartments has increased due to abnormal weather conditions, but there have been cases where support projects to replace old electrical equipment causing power outages are applied for and then canceled due to cost burdens.

According to data submitted by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to Lee Dong-ju, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of power outages in high-voltage apartments in 2019 totaled 205 cases, with 113 cases, accounting for 55%, occurring intensively from July to September. In 2018, which experienced the hottest heatwave on record, 77% (178 cases) occurred during this period. This is a 325% increase compared to 2017.

The power outage rate was particularly high in aging apartments. Among high-voltage apartments nationwide, the power outage rate in apartments older than 25 years was 2.1 times (2019) and 3.3 times (2018) higher than that of apartments less than 15 years old. The causes of power outages are, in order, circuit breaker operation, transformer/circuit breaker failure, cable failure, metering transformer box (MOF) failure, flooding/fire, and switchgear failure. The average outage time caused by transformer/circuit breaker failure was 6 hours and 20 minutes, the second longest after flooding/fire.

In 2005, KEPCO started a support project to replace old transformers in high-voltage apartments. The project cost-sharing ratio is KEPCO 55%, Power Industry Infrastructure Fund 25%, and apartments 20%. The target apartments are those where the transformer has been installed for more than 15 years, the capacity per household is less than 3kW, and the publicly announced price is less than 600 million KRW. Over the past five years, KEPCO has subsidized part of the cost of transformers and low-voltage circuit breaker materials for 526 apartment complexes, spending 7.71 billion KRW.

The problem is that many apartments selected as project targets cancel their applications. According to KEPCO documents, in the past five years, a total of 120 cases were canceled after being selected as project targets. The unused budget totaled 2.69 billion KRW, with an average cancellation budget rate of 25.8%. Although additional projects were implemented with the canceled budget, only 39 replacements were completed.

Assemblyman Lee said, "The frequent cancellations are because residents are aware of their self-payment obligations and oppose the decision to use the long-term repair reserve fund at the residents' representative meetings," adding, "The fact that many cases are canceled after being selected as targets means that the benefits do not reach apartments that actually need replacements."

He continued, "KEPCO should also consider lowering the self-payment ratio for apartments located in rural areas or where vulnerable groups mainly reside."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.