Starting on the 5th, on weekends and public holidays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., public charging fees for electric vehicles will be discounted by up to 32%, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said on the 3rd. The move aims to improve grid stability by steering EV charging to midday hours, when power is relatively abundant due to renewable generation. The government also plans to examine during this discount period whether charging demand actually shifts to midday depending on the price level.
The discount will run from the 5th to the 31st of next month on a total of 21 weekend and public holiday days, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is the second round, following a first implementation alongside the April "seasonal and time-of-use (TOU) electricity rate reform." The TOU tariff is a system that applies different rates by time of day to reflect varying electricity supply and demand conditions.
The discount range varies by charger operator. For self-consumption chargers installed in dwellings or companies, a 50% discount on the energy charge applies. That translates to a discount of 40.1 to 48.6 won per kilowatt-hour (kWh). For some 9,600 government-run "public fast chargers," KEPCO's 50% energy charge discount is combined with an additional in-house discount, resulting in a 22% to 32% cut in the total charging fee. Chargers operated by the Korea Electric Power Corporation and the Seoul city government offer discounts of about 11% to 17%. That saves 85.4 to 97.2 won and 40.1 to 48.6 won per kWh, respectively.
Charging fees consist of a basic electricity fee, an energy charge, and items such as labor and depreciation. Among these, the energy charge paid to KEPCO accounts for about 35% of the total charging fee.
The climate ministry plans to use these charger-by-charger discount differences to observe changes in charging demand based on price gaps. It also intends to reflect the findings in the design of a time-of-use EV charging tariff under review for introduction next year.
During the spring period this year (from Apr. 18 to May 31), consumer charging fees were discounted by up to 15%. An official at the climate ministry said, "Direct comparison with the previous year is difficult due to differences in the number of EVs deployed and charging infrastructure," adding, "The average daily number of uses increased by about 9.2% from the previous month." The official also noted, "We confirmed during the spring discount period a tendency for charging demand to shift to holidays and other times when system load is relatively low."
Nineteen private charging operators will also participate. Everon, Pluglink, Chaevi, and SK E&Link are among the participants. The discount ranges and methods vary by company. Jeong Sun-hwa, director-general for green transition policy at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, said, "We will closely analyze the results from this fall and design the time-of-use charging tariff under review for introduction next year so that it can deliver both user benefits and grid stability."