President Kim Jong-kap of Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO). (Photo: KEPCO)

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) saw its Q1 operating profit improve on the back of cheaper fuel import prices, despite declining revenues of electricity sales for the first quarter of the year.

KEPCO plans to minimize electricity rate increase by intensifying management efficiency as the power company has benefited from lower international crude oil prices.

Provisional figures released by KEPCO on May 14 showed that in a consolidated financial statement, the power company chalked up 751.6 won in Q1, a 32.8 percent jump over the same period of last year.

The figure represented a 38.8 percent nose-dive from the previous quarter, however. Q1 sales stood at 15.075.3 trillion won. The figure represented a 2.6 percent rise over the previous quarter, but a 0.1 percent year-on-year decline.

KEPCO saw its Q1 net profit decline 79.7 percent to 118.4 billion won over the previous year, but a 120.9 percent year-on-year jump. KEPCO’s Q1 operating profit may be interpreted as an improvement on the back of declining power purchases prices coupled with cheaper fuel prices.

Electricity amounts sold rose 2.5 percent in Q1, but power sale revenues declined by 26.7 billion won due to the introduction of a charging system indexing unit prices.

KEPCO saw its subsidiaries’ fuel purchase prices drop by 192.1 billion won compared to a year before thanks to lower crude oil prices and coal prices and dropping coal utilization of thermal power plants related to price caps.

Electricity purchase prices declined on the back of cheaper fuel prices, but KEPCO saw its power purchase costs from private power producers rise a 6.9 percent year-on-year rise or an increase of 179.4 billion won.

Consequently, KEPCO saved a combined 12.7 billion won in fuel costs and power purchase costs compared to a year before, Besides, KEPCO saw other business costs decline by 146.1 billion won over a year earlier.

A KEPCO official said the organization saw depreciation rise due to the building and expanding facilities such as transmission and distribution lines, carbon credit costs decline on the back of additional free credit allocations and repair and maintenance cost decline.

In consideration of uncertainties such as crude oil prices and foreign currencies, KEPCO plans to minimize electricity charge raises through intensified management efficiency.

KEPCO and its group power companies plan to limit power supply cost raises per 1kWh to lower than 3 percent by 2024 and form their own task forces designed to explore ways of promoting cost efficiency.

KEPCO also plans to continue investments into networks to expand renewable energies and pursue carbon neutrality while striving to expand ESG management.

KEPCO Sets Up Digital Work Place

KEPCO disclosed a plan on May 3 to establish a “Digital Work Place” designed to offer work conditions similar to offices at any time and at any place in the contactless era, a smart work environment, outfitted with digital technologies.

The Digital Work Place will provide digital work conditions – borderless, wireless and paperless smart work environment, employing digital technologies such as cloud, mobile and wireless telecommunication.

As for the borderless environment, the existing desktop PCs will be replaced with cloud and notebook PCs so people can contact their work system to perform functions while staying at home or making a business trip.

Wireless offices will eliminate LAN lines and corded telephones, and wireless LAN and smartphones will be connected with internal office phones to make business calls at any place and at any time.

For the paperless environment, simple work will be reported by e-mail, and in the case a face-to-face reporting is inevitable, files will be dispatched via a mobile messenger for the exclusive use of staffers and an environment of reporting and approving will be created using smartphones and tablet PCs sans papers.