The government is pushing ahead with a high-efficiency home appliances rebate program this year, citing the need to stimulate domestic demand and conserve energy, with a scale of about 300 billion won. However, in the National Assembly, concerns were raised about fundamental issues such as effectiveness, fairness, and the lack of performance evaluation, pointing out the concentration of benefits among large corporations, the metropolitan area, and high-income groups.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has allocated 495.6 billion won in the supplementary budget proposal for this year. Of this, 326.1 billion won (65.8%) has been newly assigned to a program that refunds 10% of the purchase price for high-efficiency home appliances such as TVs and air conditioners. The refund is available to all citizens, with a limit of 300,000 won per individual, on a first-come, first-served basis until the budget is exhausted.
On the 25th, the full meeting of the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee of the National Assembly received concentrated concerns from both ruling and opposition party lawmakers regarding this matter.
Lawmaker Kim Jung-ho (Democratic Party of Korea) said, "I question whether this program truly aids in stimulating the economy and stabilizing livelihoods (the purpose of the supplementary budget)" and pointed out, "Ultimately, benefits are concentrated among large companies, the metropolitan area, and high-income groups." Lawmaker Lee Cheol-kyu (People Power Party) also noted, "I wonder if this budget can create new demand and provide practical support to those in need, such as the working class," saying, "If most of it is substitute demand, it contradicts the policy intent."
Lawmaker Na Kyung-won (People Power Party) expressed concern by saying, "Are home appliance companies raising prices beforehand under the pretext of refunds, or wrapping them as premium new products just to create a price increase effect?" and added, "In the end, it seems that it is not the citizens but the home appliance companies that benefit. "
Lawmaker Kwak Sang-eon (Democratic Party of Korea) criticized, "Despite three previous implementations, there has been no systematic performance evaluation, and improvements to the system have been insufficient," adding, "This 300 billion won budget could end up being wasted."
The National Assembly Budget Office pointed out in a report titled "Analysis of the Supplementary Budget Proposal for 2025" that while this program is being implemented for the fourth time following those in 2016, 2019, and 2020, there has been insufficient systematic performance evaluation, and improvements based on the refund status by household, region, and income level are necessary.
In fact, during the implementation in 2020, the metropolitan area accounted for more than 50% of the total number and amount of refunds, while regions like Incheon accounted for only 6%. Criticism has been repeatedly raised that only large corporations focusing on premium high-priced home appliances benefit from the program.
In response, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun said, "If you replace air conditioning equipment older than 10 years with the latest inverter products, your electricity bill can be reduced to one-tenth," adding, "Consumers can also benefit practically, and even if large companies are the final sellers, about 60% of the overall businesses, such as small and medium-sized enterprises supplying parts, benefit from this initiative."
Meanwhile, on that day, the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee discussed the supplementary budget proposal under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and referred it to the Budget Review Subcommittee.