Kepco reports dramatically smaller operating loss in 2023

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Kepco reports dramatically smaller operating loss in 2023

Published: 23 Feb. 2024, 17:17

JIN EUN-SOO
[email protected]

Korea Electric Power Corporation reported its 2023 earnings on Friday. [NEWS1]

The Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) reported on Friday that its operating loss narrowed sharply in 2023 from the record the previous year on the back of electricity rate hikes and restructuring efforts.

Operating loss came to 4.57 trillion won last year (US$3.43 billion), down drastically from a record high of 32.66 trillion won in 2022, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday.

Net losses came to 4.66 trillion won in 2023, compared to 24.43 trillion won a year earlier.

Sales posted 88.21 trillion won in 2023, a 23.8 percent year-on-year increase.

The power company said operating costs fell by 10.72 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, coming in at 92.77 trillion won on the back of cheaper fuel prices.

In the fourth quarter alone, the company reported operating profit of 1.88 trillion won and net profit came to 1.33 trillion won, the second straight quarterly gain.

The utility firm logged a quarterly operating profit during the July-September period for the first time since the first quarter of 2021.

In 2023, Kepco raised the rates three times — by 13.1 won per kilowatt-hour in the first quarter, 8 won in the second quarter and 10.6 won in the fourth quarter, which was confined to the commercial electricity use.

The company was unable to raise electricity prices earlier to a degree sufficient enough to cover high fuel costs amid the Covid-19 pandemic and high inflation.

Facing snowballing losses, Kepco has implemented 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.

Kepco's shares jumped 2.17 percent Friday from the previous session on the Seoul bourse to close at 23,550 won.

BY JIN EUN-SOO, YONHAP [[email protected]]