KEPCO to Announce 'Drastic Additional Self-Rescue Plan' This Month... Decision on Electricity Rate Hike Expected Afterwards

Kim Dong-cheol KEPCO President Press Conference
"Additional Self-Rescue Plan to be Announced Within 2-3 Weeks"
Including Workforce Efficiency and Additional Asset Sales

Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) plans to unveil a '2nd Additional Self-Rescue Plan' this month, which includes workforce optimization and additional asset sales. Since the government has adopted the policy of 'restructuring first, then adjusting electricity rates,' the decision on whether to raise electricity prices is likely to be made after KEPCO announces its additional self-rescue measures.

On the 4th, KEPCO President Kim Dong-cheol said at a press briefing, "We will do our best to announce the (additional self-rescue plan) within 2 to 3 weeks, and until then, we are waiting for the government's minimum measures," adding, "We hope the decision on electricity rate adjustments will be made by the end of this month."

In May this year, KEPCO announced a financial improvement plan totaling KRW 25.7 trillion, expanding the existing KRW 20.1 trillion financial soundness plan by KRW 5.6 trillion to achieve early management normalization.

President Kim emphasized, "The scale of additional self-rescue efforts includes parts that can be converted into monetary amounts and parts that cannot, such as downsizing the organization and optimizing personnel," adding, "However, the scale will be unimaginable until now."

KEPCO also plans to accelerate asset sales, which have been slow due to the real estate market downturn. It will concretize strategies such as relaxing contract conditions to achieve its goals within the year. Regarding concerns about selling prime assets, President Kim said, "Even if we sell, for really good assets, we will not sell them entirely but maintain some shares to ensure they continue to be a source of our income, thus preserving a minimum margin."

KEPCO also announced measures for timely expansion of the power grid on the same day. President Kim said, "The success of advanced industries such as the Yongin semiconductor cluster hinges on special measures for 'large-scale power supply in the metropolitan area,'" adding, "Significant expansion of the power grid is necessary to implement the national energy mix, including new nuclear power plants and renewable energy integration."

To this end, KEPCO will focus on ▲ enhancing social acceptability ▲ improving laws and systems ▲ changing construction methods to ensure timely power grid construction. It plans to realize compensation support by expanding the compensation scope for areas under high-voltage currents (seonhaji), encouraging early consultation on land use with incentives, expanding information disclosure to all construction projects, and significantly increasing disclosure items to strengthen transparency. Additionally, it will promote the enactment of a 'Special Act for the Expansion of National Core Power Grid (tentative name)' to establish a government-led rapid construction system for key power grids, such as those linked to carbon-free power sources and advanced industry supply.

President Kim stated, "We cannot talk about normalizing electricity rates without KEPCO's management innovation and internal reform," adding, "We will speed up the implementation of the already announced KRW 26 trillion financial structure improvement plan and create and announce drastic additional self-rescue measures, including organizational and personnel optimization, as soon as possible."

Kim Dong-chul, President of KEPCO, is speaking at a press conference held on the 4th.

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