KEPCO Postpones Announcement of Fuel Cost Adjustment Unit Price

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has canceled the scheduled announcement of the fuel cost adjustment unit price, which was planned for the morning of the 21st.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 20th, KEPCO announced through a notice on its cyber branch that the announcement of the fuel cost adjustment unit price, originally scheduled for 8 a.m. on the 21st, has been postponed.

KEPCO calculated the second quarter fuel cost adjustment unit price reflecting the fuel cost fluctuations from December last year to February this year and submitted it to the government on the 16th. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated that it is currently consulting with related ministries and instructed KEPCO to finalize the adjustment unit price after receiving the results.

Some speculate that the postponement of the adjustment unit price announcement is due to the burden of deciding on an additional increase, influenced by President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's pledge to "freeze electricity rates."

Electricity rates consist of a basic charge, electricity consumption charge (standard fuel cost), fuel cost adjustment charge, and climate environment charge, with the fuel cost adjustment unit price directly affecting the determination of the fuel cost adjustment charge.

Since January last year, the government has introduced a fuel cost linkage system to reflect increases in power generation fuel costs such as oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the rates. The adjustment unit price is calculated quarterly by reflecting the average fuel cost of the preceding three months.

The increase in the fuel cost adjustment unit price is limited to a maximum of ±3 KRW per kWh compared to the previous quarter. Typically, if it rises by 3 KRW, a household of four using an average of 350 kWh per month will face an additional monthly burden of about 1,000 KRW compared to the previous quarter.

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