Last year, the total liability of Korea Electric Power Corporation increased by over 2.7 trillion won, surpassing 205 trillion won.
According to the power industry on the 9th, KEPCO's total liability on a consolidated basis at the end of last year was recorded at 205.181 trillion won. This is an increase of 2.731 trillion won compared to a year earlier, marking the highest level ever.
KEPCO recorded losses for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023, but shifted to a surplus with an operating profit in the 8 trillion won range last year. Nevertheless, the increase in liability was significantly influenced by the massive scale of debt.
KEPCO paid 4.45 trillion won in interest during the year 2023 and is estimated to have borne about 5 trillion won in interest last year. In particular, the completion of the Shinhanul Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 last year led to the incorporation of about 2 trillion won in liability for post-nuclear treatment recovery, further increasing KEPCO's debt.
The deterioration of KEPCO's finances emerged as international energy prices skyrocketed around the time of the Russia-Ukraine war while the company continued to supply electricity at prices below cost. As a result, KEPCO accumulated an operating loss of over 43 trillion won from 2021 to 2023. The total liability, which was at the level of approximately 130 trillion won in 2020, surged by over 70 trillion won by last year.
Excluding subsidiaries and looking only at the parent company KEPCO, most of the money earned from electricity sales is going out in interest expenses. On a separate basis, KEPCO recorded an operating profit of 3.1749 trillion won last year, but due to interest and other non-operating expenses, the net profit was limited to 835.9 billion won.
Currently, out of the total liability of 205 trillion won, 132.5 trillion won comes from borrowing funds raised through corporate bond issuance and other means. Among this, repayments of 35.4 trillion won and 26.1 trillion won are due this year and next year, respectively.
Concerns have been raised that KEPCO's poor financial situation may impact investment execution, such as the construction of power transmission and distribution networks, which are crucial to the national power infrastructure. In fact, KEPCO's investment execution performance last year totaled 16.8 trillion won, including the construction cost for transmission and distribution networks of 5.4 trillion won, with an execution rate of only 91% of the planned budget.