KPX President Yoo Sang-hee (Photo:KPX)

Korea Power Exchange (KPX) was put on the list of public entities with the highest rating in the 2015 integrity evaluation conducted by the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) for the third consecutive year.

The ACRC’s integrity assessment is an innovative initiative to encourage public institutions to engage in voluntary efforts to prevent corruption by regularly assessing and disclosing the integrity levels at public institutions. It is designed to identify corruption-prone areas in the public sector and root causes of corruption; understand trends in corruption levels of public organizations; encourage public institutions to engage in voluntary anticorruption efforts; and provide basic data for devising government-wide anti-corruption strategies.

KPX has been implanting diverse steps to prevent corruptions and enhance transparency of duties. For instance, KPX has eliminated regulations on special hiring of employees based on educational background and career in order to enhance fairness of employment and introduced a multi-source personnel evaluation system to ensure fairness of personnel changes. 

In particular, KPX has been carrying out such programs as the Bitgaram Integrity Cultural Festival to spread integrity in the local community in cooperation with public entities and local governments since moving to Naju. KPX’s integrity scheme has been designated as an excellent practice of the Government 3.0 Initiative.

According to the 2015 integrity assessment, announced in late 2015, KPX earned an excellent rating in integrity levels, and an integrity evaluation of external contractors showed that KPX ranked first among 44 public organizations classified into a third category of organizations related to public entities. 

KPX, Awarded with Top Grade Rating in Customer Satisfaction

KPX earned 95.2 points in the 2015 customer satisfaction survey of public entities conducted by the Ministry of Strategy and Financing, the highest rating the corporation has earned for the second year in a row. 

KPX’s winning the top grade rating is owed to KPX President Yoo Sang-hee and all staff members’ concerned efforts to lend an ear to the voices of customers. 

President Yoo has stressed the need for smooth field communication with customers. It also indicates that KPX has devoted itself to improving the services of the power transaction market by overcoming the difficulties the corporation has experienced. KPX saw the member companies of the market surge from 554 in January 2014 to 1,226 in January 2016, and KPX’s moving to Naju has led to a reduction in its direct access to customers. 

KPX President Calls for Dramatic Innovation

In his New Year message on Jan. 4, KPX President Yoo urged his executives and staff members to correspond to changing time, shedding any unnecessary old habits and drastically innovating.

While delivering a message at a ceremony to kick off the 2016 business year at the KPX headquarters, KPX President Yoo cited his new management catchphrase “hobokgisa,” a Chinese saying that means “breaking the mold.” 

Yoo said, “The government has begun to cope with the post-2020 climate change regime earnestly by nurturing such new energy industries as the megawatt market, electric car and energy storage system (ESS). KPX has to make this year a year for preparing new market systems and future power grid regimes.” 

Yoo disclosed his intention to proactively spearhead major issues, departing from its defensive and passive attitude, and concentrate his focus on distributed energy resources and the opening of energy “prosumer” market. 

“In my 2015 New Year’s Message, I proposed the management catchphrase ‘Ihwanwili,’ a Chinese saying that means calls for turning an unexpected crisis into a blessing in disguise.

“We’ve experienced several hardships in such areas as the government evaluation of public entities’ performances, power grid and market operation and inside and outside communications. We’ve overcome them wisely and turned them into opportunities. 

“The most exciting thing is the harmonizing of management and labor. Our staff’s satisfaction has improved. In particular, an outside evaluation showed that KPX is rated to be the public entity with the most integrity. 

“This year, the government plans to push for the reforming of four areas, including the energy field, so that people sense core outcomes on the third year of its three-year economic innovation plan.

“As you know, power and ICT convergence, eco-friendly energy and energy prosumer is quickly changing the energy paradigm from supply to demand. 

“Of late, the post-2020 climate change pact at the COP 21 Conference in Paris is considered as an opportunity, not a crisis. The government is stressing a plan to utilize a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as an opportunity to create new growth engines through technology innovation, not the burden it brings. 

“There is a Chinese saying ‘hobokgisa.’ We have to correspond to the changes and demands of the times, shed any unnecessary old habits and drastically innovate.

“KPX has to make this a year for preparing new market systems and future power grid regimes.”