Kepco reports record high net loss last year

Industry

Published: 24 Feb. 2023, 14:38

Kepco reports record high net loss last year

Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco)'s office in central Seoul [NEWS1]

Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), the country’s sole power distributor, reported a record high net loss of 24.4 trillion won ($18.7 billion) last year, hit by high fuel costs and government caps on electricity rates.

Kepco suffered an operating loss of 32.63 trillion won last year, compared with 5.85 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday.

Sales, however, grew 17.5 percent to 71.3 trillion won on higher electricity demand.

Nevertheless, the company suffered losses due to soaring global fuel prices, compounded by a government-imposed cap on electricity rates to curb high consumer prices and inflation.

Global liquefied natural gas prices more than doubled on-year to 1,564.8 won per ton last year, while the price of soft coal also spiked to $359 per ton in 2022 from $139.1 a year earlier, according to government data.

In the fourth quarter alone, the operating loss stood at 10.77 trillion won, also an all-time high, the company said.

Last year, Kepco hiked electricity rates three times, and raised rates for the first quarter of this year.

In the wake of snowballing losses, Kepco has been implementing a series of self-rescue measures, including the restructuring of overseas businesses, property sales and other cost-cutting moves worth a combined 14.3 trillion won over the next five years.

BY PARK EUN-JEE, YONHAP [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]