4 out of 10 S. Koreans want to abolish progressive power rate system

Jun 11, 2019, 08:50 am

By AsiaToday reporter Nam Ra-da

The government's task force team established for the electricity bill revision suggested last Monday three proposals - extending discount brackets for July and August; streaming the existing three-stage billing rates into two during the summer; and abolishing the progressive billing system - in order to reduce the burden on households and simplify the charge structure The government and the task force team received opinions from the public including the three proposals through the bulletin board of KEPCO from June 4 to 10. As of June 10, nearly 600 opinions have been collected. The government and the task force team will comprehensively collect the contents of upcoming public hearings on Tuesday at the Press Center in Seoul along with the public opinions on the KEPCO board. Based on this, the government will finalize the revision plan for the progressive electricity billing system this month after deliberating with the Electricity Commission.

More than four (43.3%) out of ten South Koreans want to abolish the progressive billing system, according to a new weekly survey by R&Search upon request of AsiaToday. 26.5 percent of respondents said they want to extend discount brackets for July and August while maintaining the existing three-stage progressive billing rates. 14.3% of respondents said they want to stream the existing three-stage billing rates into two during the summer. 15.9% of respondents did not choose any of the three proposals and reserved their judgments.

However, examining the overall results for the three proposals, people are divided on the issue. 43.4% of respondents said they want the progressive billing system to be abolished while 40.8 percent of respondents said they want to ease the progressive billing system by either extending discount brackets (26.5%) or reducing the number of stages (14.3%).

"Many respondents in their 30s, who uses relatively higher amount of electricity than other respondents, said they want to abolish the progressive billing system," said Kim Mi-hyun, director general of R&Search. "But the abolishment of the progressive billing system won't be easy because it would raise bill burden on more than 14 million households despite public support."

In addition, regarding President Moon Jae-in's remark in his Memorial Day speech last Thursday that there is "no difference between conservatives and liberals when it comes to patriotism," more than half of respondents (52.9%) said they agree with the president's remarks. 26.8% of respondents "agreed deeply" while 26.1% "agreed" with him. On the other hand, 42.9% of respondents said they don't agree with him.

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