POWER RATES SOAR THROUGH THIS WINTER

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Apartment maintenance fees for January will soon be delivered to homes. Increased electricity fees are adding even more burden to the general public already concerned with heating costs. Let's take a look at how electricity bills will be newly calculated in general homes.

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This four-person household living in an apartment paid over 500,000 won for the December housing maintenance fee. They paid about 110,000 won for electricity, up 16,000 won on-year when they spent the same amount of power. After electricity rate was raised again this year, they found out from the apartment management office that the rate went up by 7,000 won in just one month.

[Soundbite] (Apartment resident) : "We get a high power bill if we keep using electric heaters in winter, so we didn’t use them this year. We worry before grocery shopping and turning on heating."

Electricity rate was raised 32.4 won per kilowatt-hour over four occasions recently, three times in 2022 and once in January 2023. The power charge based on the average monthly use for a four-member household is estimated to be roughly 57,300 won this month, about 11,000 won higher than a year ago. The actual electricity bill may be higher as more households used electric heaters due to the recent spike in gas prices. Bitter cold in late January led to massive sales of winter appliances such as electric mats, hot air fans and heaters. Household power rates are subject to the progressive billing system. Price increases exponentially in accordance with the amount used. A household that has a 2,000-watt hot air fan running for eight hours a day would be put in the uppermost bracket under the progressive billing system.

[Soundbite] Lee Min-ju(Korea Electric Power Corporation) : "Your charge will increase greatly once you enter the third bracket in the progressive billing system. So people should refrain from using low-efficiency heaters and use power rationally and efficiently."

It costs 112 won per kilowatt-hour if you use electricity only up to 200 kilowatt-hour per month, but once you go past 200 kilowatt-hour the power charge would increase by 1.8 times. Going past 400 kilowatt-hour would hike up the charge 2.6 times.