In his New Year’s message, President Kim Hoe-chun of Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN) said, “The energy paradigm shift, the great trend of the times to cope with climate change, is advancing decarbonization, and a shift from cost-based dispatch to one based on the effects of the environment is demanding new investments into environment facilities of coal-fired power plants.”
President Kim sounded a sense of urgency, saying that those issues caused KOEN to suffer net losses for the second straight year, and rising investment demand is predicted to raise its debt ratio.
Likewise, financial indices show warning signs, and KOEN is struggling to stabilize profit-taking.
But entering this year, President Kim stressed the importance of translating a crisis into an opportunity. He declared a “fresh start,” calling for workers to rise to the challenge to translate a crisis into an opportunity.
President Kim proposed tasks designed to make a new start: labor and management joining forces to overcome a crisis; prioritizing safety management in the wake of the enforcement of the Act on the Punishment of Serious Disasters; executing duties with a higher degree of integrity and ethics; securing expertise by upgrading their own performance capabilities at their work areas; and securing diverse channels to actively communicate and share a future vision.
President Kim said, “Our ultimate goal is to become an energy leader of the era of energy paradigm shift.”
“If labor and management should faithfully carry out their main duties and become a first mover by sharing exploring a new path through communication and sharing, we’ll be given opportunities,” he said.
The following are excerpts of President Kim’s message.
Looking at last year, we made precious achievements amid difficult inside and outside conditions. KOEN became the first power company to have built a process of securing a site for replacing Samcheonpo Power Units 3 & 4 and obtained a license on power generation in a public contest, made by a local administrative body.
KOEN obtained an “A” grade at a government evaluation survey for the second straight year. The power company was selected as an excellent entity in an integrity evaluation survey, conducted by the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission for the fourth consecutive year.
KOEN was the first power company to have established its own carbon neutrality regime and built a foundation to prepare for compliance in accordance with the government’s greenhouse gas emission goals.
Last year is a significant year in which KOEN achieved safety management without causing even a serious disaster.
This achievement was owed to labor and management’s unified efforts. I sincerely extend thanks for the dedication and efforts you made last year.
We’re faced with a great trend of energy paradigm shift to cope with climate change. The trend of the times requires us to advance decarbonization and make new investments into eco-friendly facilities at coal-fired power units owing to a shift from economical paradigm into an environmental perspective.
Due to this, our company suffered net losses for the second straight year and the debt ratio is expected to rise because of growing demand for investments. With several financial indices showing warning signs, we struggled to in secure a stable profit.
As any company has a crisis, growth without a crisis isn’t possible. A real moment of crisis is that people do not know a crisis, and further, they do nothing even in a crisis situation.
The most important thing for us is our capability of translating a crisis into an opportunity. Entering this year, I want to declare the “New Start” to make a brave challenge to change the current crisis into an opportunity. I would propose a few tasks to implement this.
First, labor and management should make joint efforts to overcome a crisis.
Second, we have to ensure safety management as the top priority, in accordance with the enforcement of the Act on the Punishment of Serious Disasters.
Third, we should implement our duties with a sense of integrity and ethics.
Fourth, we have to secure expertise by upgrading our performance capabilities at their own job area.
Fifth, we should create diverse channels to actively communicate and share a future vision.
