Electricity prices in South Korea

South Korea has one national household tariff, set by the state-controlled utility KEPCO with government approval, and no official average price including taxes. This is KEPCO's low-voltage residential rate for the second block of monthly use (201–400 kWh outside July and August), which a household using about 300 kWh a month reaches: each extra kWh costs ₩214.6. It leaves out the monthly basic charge (₩1,600 in that block), the climate and environment charge, the quarterly fuel cost adjustment (₩5 per kWh for October to December 2026), 10% VAT and the 2.7% Electric Power Industry Base Fund. KEPCO's average revenue from homes in 2025 was ₩158.97 per kWh before VAT and the fund, lower than this rate because every home's first 200 kWh are billed at ₩120.0.

Checked against KEPCO on November 13, 2026.

Outside July and August, KEPCO bills each block of a month's use at its own rate: ₩120.0 for the first 200 kWh, ₩214.6 for the next 200 and ₩307.3 above 400 kWh, plus a basic charge set by the block the whole month reaches (₩910, ₩1,600 or ₩7,300). In July and August the blocks widen to 300 kWh and 450 kWh at the same rates, and use above 1,000 kWh a month in July and August and from December to February costs ₩736.2 per kWh. Bills then add the climate and environment charge and the fuel cost adjustment per kWh, 10% VAT and the 2.7% Electric Power Industry Base Fund.

South Korean households buy their electricity from the state-controlled Korea Electric Power Corporation, KEPCO, which also runs the grid and buys power from generators through a wholesale market. Rates are set by KEPCO with government approval, and concern about inflation has often kept them below cost, leaving the utility with heavy debts. Nuclear, coal and imported liquefied natural gas supply most power, and renewables are a small but growing share.

Household tariffs are progressive, with three blocks of monthly use and a higher basic charge in each higher block, and the blocks are widened in high summer to ease air-conditioning bills. A climate and environment charge and a quarterly fuel cost adjustment are added per unit, then value added tax and a power industry fund levy. Most people live in apartments heated by gas or district heating, so demand peaks in summer heat and winter cold snaps.