Starting Next Month, Small Business Owners Can Pay City Gas Bills in Four Installments

From next month until March of next year, small business owners using city gas will be eligible for installment payment of their bills.

On the 17th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that starting in October, installment payments for city gas bills will be implemented for small business owners using city gas nationwide to alleviate the heating cost burden during the winter season.

In particular, among city gas usage categories, users of 'General Use (approximately 670,000 locations)' and 'Business Heating Use (approximately 200,000 locations)', which mostly include small business owners, can apply for installment payments simply by verifying the customer number (business registration number) listed on the bill without submitting additional documents.

However, for large-volume gas users whose status as small business owners is uncertain, or users of other categories such as industrial use among general use and business heating use customers, the city gas company may request a 'Small Business Owner Confirmation' certificate. This certificate can be verified and issued through the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' 'Small and Medium Enterprise Status Information System.'

The installment payment period applies from October 2023 to March 2024. Installment payments can be made starting with the bills issued in October (covering usage in September), and the billed amount for the month will be evenly divided and paid over four months. Additionally, for customer convenience, a single application will allow installment payments to be applied to all bills issued from the time of application through March of next year.

As part of the government's winter heating cost measures, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has requested active cooperation in preparation from all city and provincial governments nationwide, city gas companies (34 companies), Korea Gas Corporation, and the Korea City Gas Association regarding the installment payment system for small business owners' city gas bills. Furthermore, cooperation will be sought from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the main government body responsible for small business owners, to ensure that this implementation is communicated to related small business organizations.

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