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Korea Electric Power Corporation said: “Due to concerns about confusion among the people, we are unable to calculate and release an estimate of how much electricity rates will go up next year.” This is through a response to the request from the Korean Economic Daily to submit estimates of electricity bills with Representative Yoon Young-seok. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said: “We cannot find out how oil prices will change.”
However, the government and KEPCO announced a plan to reorganize electricity rates last month and announced the expectation that “the electricity rate is likely to drop in the second half of 2021.” There is criticism that the government somehow announces and contemplates favorable predictions for the regime, and conceals unfavorable predictions by refusing to petition the National Assembly.
The government and KEPCO refused to request data from the National Assembly
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Immediately after the government announced a plan to reorganize electricity rates last month, Representative Yoon Young-seok and the Korea Economic Daily requested several times to inform the government and KEPCO’s electricity rate estimates after next year. It is about solving the curiosity of citizens who are curious to know how electricity rates change based on fluctuations in oil prices. However, the Industry Ministry and KEPCO repeatedly refused, saying: “Because we do not know how oil prices will change, we cannot calculate them.”
When asked to put the reasons for the rejection in writing, KEPCO gave a brief explanation, saying: “If you get an effect based on various assumptions, such as fuel costs and exchange rates, there is concern about confusion in the public. and the distortion of the function of price signals. Most of the response data was content that promotes the merits of the tariff reform plan, such as: “There is no country that does not implement the linkage system while importing fuel for power generation among the 30 countries with the highest GDP. “Professor Joo Han-gyu from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Seoul National University said,” In many countries where the power supply market is competitive, private companies strive for lowering their electricity bills, but KEPCO, which monopolizes the national electricity supply, has less driving force to try to reduce electricity rates icity “. The introduction will make this problem worse. “
The Industry Ministry said: “It is difficult to accurately predict fluctuations in oil prices, and electricity tariffs vary according to several variables such as LNG, coal prices and exchange rates, and the input ratio of fuel, plus oil prices. ” I can’t do it. ”However, this is the opposite of what the Industry Ministry predicted for electricity rates in the second half of this year when the Industry Ministry announced a plan to reform electricity rates last month. At the moment, the Ministry of Industry announced that “the cutback effect is likely to continue (very) given the oil price forecasts of the main institutions.”
Representative Yoon Young-seok emphasized that “It is misleading for people to give the reason ‘to avoid people’s confusion’ without being able to say how much money to take.” Representative Yoon said, “As the government and KEPCO said, oil price fluctuations cannot be predicted, but most institutions predict that oil prices are likely to increase in the future as the economy recovers. “. I don’t like to do it, so I doubt that he will refuse to calculate the estimate. “
Fall in the first half of this year, likely to increase next year
As the government said, this month’s electricity bills are somewhat cheaper than last year. This is because the ‘near low oil price’ caused by the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) is reflected in the cost of fuel. However, electricity rates for next year are likely to increase from this year. This is because there are high expectations that oil prices will rebound to pre-Crown 19 levels this year. If oil prices rise sharply than expected and the cost of solar and wind energy reflected in the electricity bill rises, as in the recent trend, electricity bills are expected to rise significantly compared to before the reorganization.
KEPCO will send the electricity bills for December of last year sequentially starting on the 11th. This bill is the first to apply the fuel cost index, in which electricity rates are adjusted according to fluctuations in prices. of the oil. For a 4 person household that used 350kWh of electricity for the house last month, they will receive a rate cut of 1050 won. The total fee, including VAT, is reduced by approximately 1,000 won from 550,000 won to 54,000 won.
But next year, the story changes. If solar and wind energy costs (environmental weather charges) increase by 2 won per 1 kWh and oil prices rise, it is estimated that electricity bills will increase to around 58,000 won. This year (54,000 won) and last year (550,000 won), the electricity bill is increasing. Recently, global forecasting agencies continue to increase their forecasts for oil prices, as they are expected to end the epidemic with the spread of the Corona 19 vaccine.
Reporter Seong Soo-young [email protected]
