Trade ministry agrees to implement electric discount

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday that it will implement Korea Electric Power Corporation’s (Kepco) Friday decision for discounts on household electric bills as part of the government’s effort to ease the burden on the public during the summer.

According to the Trade Ministry, the discount will cover July and August every year and this year’s bills are expected to be 16 to 18 percent lower as a result.

Kepco is expected to take on a burden of up to 287.4 billion won ($248.6 million) to enable the discount to be introduced.

The electric utility added in a regulatory filing on Monday that it will look into removing existing discounts for those who use minimal electricity in order to improve its finances and investor predictability in its electric billing system.

It also said that the electric billing system should be separate from welfare policies in energy.

The discount decision comes after Kepco reported its worst-ever first-quarter operating loss of 629.9 billion won.

By Chae Yun-hwan