Cases of inappropriate KEPCO welfare discounts exceed 3,000 households over 4 years

(Dangjin = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong Yun-deok = It has been revealed that more than 3,000 households have experienced inappropriate cases over 4 years in the welfare discount system operated by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to relieve the burden of electricity bills for vulnerable groups.

According to the analysis of data submitted by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) by Rep. Eogyu (Democratic Party of Korea, Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province) of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on the 29th, 3,098 households among those who received welfare discounts from 2021 to 2024 were confirmed to have received inappropriate discounts.

The total discounted rates for these households was 106,095,000 won, of which only 51,911,000 won (48.9%), less than half, was recovered.

This was due to death, moving, change of contact information, etc.

The most common type of unsuitable cases was discounts for large families of five or more people, accounting for 2,283 households (73.7%).

Rep. Eogyu said, “To ensure that welfare discounts are supported in accordance with their intended purpose, we need to accurately check changes in the eligibility of beneficiaries and manage all inappropriate discount amounts.”

KEPCO is reducing the bills of households with relatively large electricity bill burdens, such as the disabled, recipients of basic livelihood security, the next-lowest class, households with many children, large families, and households with pregnant women.

Every year, 3.576 million to 3.921 million households benefit from a total of 583.1 billion won to 714.1 billion won.