Korea's Schools Spend Too Much on Power

Mudung elementary shcool in Kwangju city is suffering from high electricity bills, more than ￦800,000 a month. During the vacation months, electricity charges average around ￦50,000. The costs of running computers and multimedia devices are the primary reasons behind the expensive elctricity charges.
Elementary schools, middle schools and high schools are spending from 9-25 percent of their budget on electricity charges. Energy costs are eating into the funds reserved for the education of Korea's children.
Educational offices have requested that the electricity charges for the nation's schools be discounted to industry levels. Currently, Korean schools pay 90 percent of the normal domestic rate, while industry pays only 66.8 percent.
Almost 230 schools in Taejon spent ￦3500 billion on their electricity charges. Around 10 percent of their total budget was spent. A technical high school in Taejon spent ￦50 million, 50 percent of the school's annual working budget.
A source from the educational office said that the situation in Korea where schools pay more for electricity than companies was ridiculous. The Korea Eletric Power corporation said that there are no other countries that offer such a discount, and they would have to raise the rates in other sectors to account for the loss.

by Ku Doo-Hun