SK Government to Redevelop Power Billing System

by YuGee / Aug 19, 2016 06:30 AM EDT

The World Energy Council says extreme weather caused by climate change could put the energy infrastructure at risk. (Photo by John Moore / Getty Images News)

The ruling party Saenuri, together with the other political parties in the government launched a task force that would discuss and prioritize the electricity billing system on Thursday, August 18. The task force's main agenda is to find specific plans or revisions that will be made by the end of this year.

Korea JoongAng Daily reported that the ruling party plans to change the present progressive billing system that is applied to household electricity usage. The current billing system has six levels of brackets, which makes people pay more unit if they use more.

One of the officials of the Saenuri Party mentioned that the party plans to lessen the number of levels to three and the gap between the starting price and the highest amount that a household which consumes the most has to pay. To date, customers have to pay almost more than 1,000 percent higher than the starting price if they consume over 500 kilowatts in one month.

The system was first created in the 1970s during the oil crisis, and since then, there have been a lot of effort to amend the law, but no development was reached.

Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Joo Hyung Hwan said, "The billing system was introduced when the government was facing electricity shortage issues in order to save energy. I do agree that we need to improve the system now as the demand for the electricity has risen significantly from the past as well as the people's income in general."

Saenuri Party Representative Lee Chae Ik and Economics Professor at Incheon National University Sohn Yang Hoon will lead the task force. The team stated that the members will meet once or twice a month to talk about the issue and hold meetings to listen and review comments from the public.

In other news, the Trade Ministry issued warnings to 21 retailers and tickets to two retailers who did not shut their doors after operating hours. The officials who visited 1,769 retailers on Tuesday found that 1.3 percent violated the rule on shutting the doors to save electricity during a heat wave.

Those who were seen violating the said law will be fined up to 3 million won (US $2,703) if they still operate their businesses with open doors. The inspection will be done until August 26.