Cold Season Struggles

[Anchor Lead]

To low-income households that cannot afford heating costs the cold season is even harder to bear than the hot season. To help them, the government provides so-called energy vouchers, but such subsidies are not even enough to be used for one month.

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Fifty-one-year old Park, who has developmental disability, is a single parent of two young children. Park's family receives basic living subsidies. Over the past seven months, they have received 145,000 won in home heating subsidies. To cut down on gas bills surpassing 100,000 won a month, the family has no choice but to rely on an electric mat to stay warm in the winter.

[Soundbite] (Recipient of energy subsidies) : "We almost never turn on the boiler. My youngest child got a cold a few days ago. But we don't have enough money to pay for heating. We only get KRW 140,000, which is only enough to pay for two months."

The situation is even worse in rural areas, where residents mostly use oil boilers. This 87-year-old woman, who lives alone in a container house, receives 86,000 won in home heating subsidies. That's only enough to buy two weeks worth of kerosene.

[Soundbite] Yoon Jae-soo(Recipient of energy subsidies) : "When it's windy outside, I cannot sleep because it's too cold. I can't afford to buy kerosene. The cost of a single injection at the hospital is KRW 50,000."

The state energy vouchers, which were introduced in 2015, range from 86,000 to 145,000 won according to the size of households. They are intended to be used from November to May of the next year, but they are not even enough to cover heating costs for one month. The difference in heating costs by type of fuel -- be it city gas or kerosene -- is not taken into consideration, either. Some 600,000 households nationwide receive state energy subsidies, but they are far from enough to keep low-income households warm during the cold season.