Incheon City Freezes Urban Gas Rates Considering Low-Income Economy... Only Fuel Cell Gas Prices Increased

Incheon City has decided to freeze retail gas prices for city gas, excluding fuel cell use, this year to ease the burden on citizens and small business owners amid high inflation.

The city announced on the 30th that, considering the low-income economy, it will freeze retail prices for 10 types of city gas including residential, industrial, general, and transportation uses this year, and only increase the fuel cell use rate from the current 27.8 KRW per ㎥ to 30.15 KRW per ㎥, a 2.35 KRW increase, starting from the 1st of next month.

This year, Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, and Ulsan raised city gas retail prices by an average of 9.8 to 10.5%, but Incheon minimized the increase with an average rise of only 0.9%.

Following an external expert agency’s report from April to June, which suggested raising rates for fuel cell and transportation uses, Incheon City decided to freeze transportation gas rates, which could affect public transportation fares, and only increase the fuel cell use rate, which is set lower than in other regions.

Currently, the wholesale price of city gas supplied by Korea Gas Corporation to city gas companies is approved by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, while the retail prices supplied by city gas companies to households and businesses are approved by the mayor or governor of the city or province.

An official from Incheon City stated, "Although there were many factors driving retail price increases such as rising costs, the increase was minimized due to the city gas companies’ efforts to expand sales volume," adding, "We will continue to ensure that supply costs acceptable to both consumers and suppliers are calculated."

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