KEPCO to reconsider sue on Korea Power Exchange

The Korea Electric Power Corp, a state-run power distributor, said Sunday that the company is currently reconsidering its decision to file a suit against the Korea Power Exchange and the assessment committee of market price for electric power.

While keeping the lawsuit as a possible but not probable option, the company is looking for different alternatives, a KEPCO official said.

The power firm had announced on Aug. 29 that it would sue the two state organizations over an unreasonable power charge system, claiming the company was forced to yield a deficit of 4.4 trillion won ($3.9 billion) in total as the government has fixed the power fees lower than the actual cost of electricity.

KEPCO claimed that it was forced to buy 1 kilowatt of electricity at 102.65 won from producers and sell it at 93.27 won in the first half this year.

Such move comes after KPX and other power producing companies turned down KEPCO’s suggestion to share the government-encouraged loss.

Enraged KEPCO vowed to deduct the discrepancy between the current and actual power charges from its payment to the power producing companies. KEPCO CEO Kim Joong-kyum signed papers to go ahead with the legal procedure.

(joowonc@heraldcorp.com)