“Against the Uniform Electricity Bill Hike” Says Chungcheongnam-do, Home to Half of the Nation’s Thermoelectric Power Plants

A massive transmission tower stands tall in a village near a thermoelectric power plant in Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do. Kyunghyang Shinmun Archives

The government raised the price of electricity by 8.0 won (5.3% from the current rate) per kilowatt hour (kWh), but Chungcheongnam-do, where many of the nation’s coal-powered thermoelectric power plants are located, announced its opposition to the uniform electricity pricing system.

On May 16, a representative of the Chungcheongnam-do provincial government said, “In the case of Chungcheongnam-do, which houses the most coal-powered thermoelectric power plants in the nation and generates the most power, the rate should be lower than in other areas.”

Twenty-nine of the fifty-eight coal-powered thermoelectric power plants in the nation are in Chungcheongnam-do. These generated 107,812 GWh (88,859 GWh of thermal energy) of power last year, which accounted for 18% (15% of thermal energy) of the total 594,392 GWh of electricity produced nationwide. Chungcheongnam-do produced the most power in the nation. What’s more, the region only uses 47% of the electricity it generates (50,259 GWh) and transmits the remaining 53% to other regions. In the process, residents in this province shoulder environmental damage from greenhouse gases and fine dust. Chungcheongnam-do residents also suffer in terms of health and living environment due to the numerous power cables installed to transmit the power generated, and economic losses due to these problems are also significant.

The Chungcheongnam-do government has high hopes for a special legislation to encourage distributed energy, which stipulates grounds for charging different electricity prices according to regions by reflecting these factors. The bill was passed by the parliamentary Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee on March 23, and is currently pending in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

The special act aims to achieve fairer power rates by reflecting social costs. The Chungcheongnam-do official explained, “Until now, the nation only forced sacrifices on areas producing massive amounts of power, but now, the bill states improvements to such unfair practices.”

If the legislation passes in the National Assembly and different power rates are charged according to regions based ontheir power self-sufficiency, it could control the excessive use of power and encourage local governments to improve their energy independence.

Yi Seung-won, director of energy policy at the Chungcheongnam-do provincial government said, “The current law was applied in the latest power rate hike, so the higher rates will be charged uniformly throughout the nation.” He further said, “The National Assembly needs to pass the special act as soon as possible and establish a system where power rates are relatively lower in areas generating a lot of power and higher in areas that don’t.”

Chungcheongnam-do has made various efforts, such as organizing a debate in the National Assembly and making suggestions to the government, in order to introduce a varied electricity pricing system according to regions. Apart from the special act, the province also requested the Chungnam Institute for research to secure reasonable grounds for an appropriate power rate system in the Chungcheongnam-do region.

Meanwhile, the latest electricity price hike will raise the monthly power bill for a four-person household that uses 332 kWh of electricity a month by 3,000 won. This calculates into 2,090 won for a one-person household (230kWh), 2,640 won for a two-person household (289 kWh), and 2,700 won for a three-person household (298 kWh).