‘Let general consumers use green electricity for their houses’

Activists of the Consumer Climate Action and the Solution For Our Climate gives a performance at a press conference in front of KEPCO’s Seoul headquarters on August 22. Reporter Sung Dong-hoon

“Consumers also have the right to use green electricity. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE)'s notification that allows only companies to choose renewable energy is unconstitutional.”

The Solution For Our Climate, the Consumer Climate Action, and 41 consumers held a press conference in front of KEPCO's Seoul headquarters on in Jung-gu, Seoul, on August 22 to announce that they are filing a constitutional complaint against the “Guidelines on Electricity Transaction Contracts" that does not give consumers the right to choose energy by source. The claimants demanded a “guarantee of consumers' right to choose green electricity,” saying it “harms the right to self-determination, the right to life, the right to health, the right to the environment, and the right to equality in electricity consumption. The current MOTIE’s notification, which allows only companies to select and use renewable energy, is unconstitutional and they require general consumers to choose renewable energy as a source of residential electricity.

Currently, in Korea, there is no way to purchase renewable energy produced by solar or wind power at home even if you want to use it. On the other hand, companies can sign power purchase agreements and use renewable energy to achieve RE100 and carbon neutrality. RE100 is a global campaign aimed at covering 100 percent of the electricity required for corporate activities with renewable energy. Residential electricity accounts for about 15 percent of the country’s total electricity consumption. To realize carbon neutrality, it is necessary to increase the proportion of renewable energy in residential electricity. Currently, however, the share of energy from fossil fuels, such as coal-fired power generation, is inevitably high. The claimants also called on the government to establish a system that allows consumers to purchase renewable energy. They asked KEPCO to provide facilities and systems for consumers to use renewable energy.

In foreign countries, there is a system where individuals as well as businesses can choose and purchase renewable energy. In Germany, electricity and gas companies sign large-scale electricity purchase contracts with wind and solar energy producers, allowing residential electricity consumers to choose green electricity plans offered by them. In the U.K. and Japan, consumers are also able to purchase electricity produced by renewable energy.

Kim Eun-jung, head of the Consumer Climate Action, said, “More and more consumers prefer green energy and half of them are willing to pay extra (to use renewable energy), but nothing has changed. The structure of having to consume electricity produced by thermal power generation is not improving, and the right to choose green electricity is being thoroughly violated.”

Kim Gun-young, a lawyer at the Solution For Our Climate, said, “The Constitution recognizes the right of consumers to self-determination as a fundamental right. Forcing consumers to use fossil fuel-based electricity despite the disastrous consequences of fossil fuel consumption is a grave restriction on their right to self-determination.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.