◀ Anchor ▶
The weather is said to be this cold, but the gas bill has risen so much that I have no choice but to worry regarding turning on the heating.
In fact, there must be a lot of people who were surprised when they received last month’s bill.
At most, the rate has risen three or four times, and there is even a saying that the ‘heating cost bomb’ has been hit.
The problem is that the rates will rise more this year.
Reporter Lee Jae-wook covered the story.
◀ Report ▶
An internet cafe in the Gyeonggi area.
‘I was surprised by the heating bill’, ‘I was hit by a heating bill’, followed by comments saying that they were surprised to receive the heating bill last month.
In one apartment, there was even an announcement saying, “Please refrain from making inquiries because the heating bill is not incorrectly announced.”
[전종화]
“In November, I came out with 33,700 won, but this month, it was 120,000 won… It should go up moderately even if it goes up, but it’s more than 3 times more than 3 times…”
[임광준]
“The usage seems to have been similar, but last year it was regarding 300,000 won, and this year regarding 50,000 won more came out to regarding 350,000 won.
Last year, the price of liquefied natural gas and LNG, which are raw materials for city gas, rose by 128% in one year in the followingmath of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
As a result, city gas rates have also risen, and as demand for heating and hot water in winter has increased, heating costs on bills have also risen significantly.
Older apartments with less efficient central heating have higher heating bills.
The government is in a position that it will not raise gas rates further before winter ends.
[이창양/산업통상자원부 장관 (지난달)]
“In order to solve the fundamental problem, it is inevitable to adjust electricity and gas rates. We plan to review whether to raise rates following the second quarter.”
After suppressing rate hikes for several years, KOGAS’ accumulated operating losses are approaching 9 trillion won.
It has already risen a lot, but in the long run, it means that city gas rates will inevitably rise once more this year.
This is Lee Jae-wook from MBC News.
Video coverage: Yoon Byung-soon / Video editing: Yang Hong-seok
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