전기요금, 7~8월에만 누진구간 한시적 확대키로<br /><br />Starting next month, a new electricity billing system will be adopted here in the nation.<br />The changes are made to help reduce the burden on households for the peak summer months. <br /> Yoon Jung-min has the details. <br />The new electricity billing system will put more people in the lower two of the billing rates by raising the cutoff for the third and most expensive rate.<br />That'll be in effect from July through August. <br />Currently, South Korean households are billed for electricity at three different rates the heaviest users paying three times more per unit than the lowest users.<br />The higher cutoff is expected to benefit more than 16 million households, whose bills will be lowered by about nine U.S. dollars a month.<br />On Tuesday, the trade ministry chose the new system from among three proposals that had been discussed since last December. The need for a change became clear last summer... when the country's household electricity use hit a record high due to extreme heat, and many were shocked at their power bills.<br />The other two plans were to adopt either a two-rate system in summer... or a flat-rate system throughout the year.<br />But it was felt those systems might favor some particular households rather than benefit as many as possible.<br />The Korea Electric Power Corporation will draft the official revision and submit it for government approval.<br />Once that's done, the new system will come into effect next month.<br />Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News. <br />
