KEPCO, whose debt-to-equity ratio tops 400%, paid more than 800 billion won ($576 million) in performance bonuses to its employees over the past five years. The state-run utility has been designated a financially risky institution for five consecutive years, yet the government plans to channel a total of 850 billion won ($612 million) into the company next year through a cash injection and support for electricity bill discounts.
According to data submitted by KEPCO to Rep. Kim Wi-sang of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, bonuses paid to KEPCO employees from 2022 through September this year totaled 803.2 billion won. The data was released on Sept. 30.
Annual payments fell to 63.2 billion won in 2023 from 131.4 billion won in 2022, then rose again to 167 billion won in 2024 and 268.3 billion won last year. This year, 173 billion won had been paid as of the 23rd of this month, with the remainder scheduled for December. The average bonus per employee last year was 11.95 million won.
Higher government management evaluation grades drove the increase. KEPCO received a C grade in its 2021 and 2022 evaluations before climbing to a B in 2023, then earned an A grade for two straight years in 2024 and last year.
Its financial condition, by contrast, remains weak. KEPCO's debt-to-equity ratio stood at 494% in 2022, 644% in 2023 and 619% in 2024, and reached 444% last year. Total debt amounted to 118 trillion won as of the end of last year.
With its debt ratio exceeding 200%, KEPCO has been designated a financially risky institution for five consecutive years, from 2022 through this year.
Against this backdrop, the government has earmarked 850 billion won for KEPCO in next year's budget proposal. To ease the utility's financial burden, it will inject 500 billion won in cash and cover 350 billion won in welfare and special-case electricity discounts for vulnerable groups and schools, costs KEPCO had previously borne itself.
The government included the funding in its power sector budget aimed at strengthening electricity supply capacity for megaprojects such as semiconductor plants and artificial intelligence data centers. Next year's power sector budget for megaprojects totals 1.5489 trillion won, with the KEPCO equity injection and electricity bill support accounting for more than half.
"KEPCO is a prime example of a troubled state-run institution. It is hard to understand why several evaluation indicators unfavorable to KEPCO's financial situation were left out of the assessment," Kim said. "I question whether the government, which is pushing ahead with national infrastructure projects such as the Honam semiconductor cluster, is giving KEPCO a free pass in its evaluations."
