Ordinary People Exploded in Anger in Summer 2016

‘The hottest', 'historical record': these expressions have appeared more frequently this year. This is because the heat of this summer has been the hottest, and has been called the worst heat wave in recent history. First, the maximum temperature of this August was 34.3 degrees in Seoul. This was, 1.7 degrees hotter than in 1994, which was known as the worst temperature year after Seoul started recording weather observations. Also, this year excessive heat warnings were even issued for all regions for 3 days. During these days, the temperature in Hayang, Kyoung buk, was 40.3 degrees, which was the hottest in the country. Experts are saying that the climate is becoming similar to a subtropical country. There were about 2,075 patients with heat diseases, and the death toll was 17 this summer.

In this heat wave, many people chose to stay at home and turn on the air conditioning rather than go outside. However, turning on the air conditioner without thinking can result in a significantly higher electricity bill because of progressive tax. In reality, although the use of electricity in July increased twice compared with June, electricity bills increased more than six times, said one house-wife. For at typical family, turning on the air conditioning for 3 hours everyday cost about 200,000 won.

So, what is progressive tax and why do we use it? The progressive tax, which induces savings by allotting more money taxed from using electricity, is one of the government's national energy saving policies. The current stage of electricity fee in Korean electric power corporation is all stage6. The fee of stage 1 for 100KWh or under is 60.7 won for 1KWh, and the fee of stage 6 for 501KWh or over is 709.5 won for 1Kwh. As you can see, the gap in cost between the first stage and the sixth stage is eleven times. This is six times or eight times higher standard compared to electricity for either general purpose or industrial purpose which is not applied progressive tax. This is high compared with worldwide electricity costs. Taiwan uses stage 5 (2.4 times), Japan uses stage 3 (1.4times) and the United Kingdom, France and Canada use an electric unit fee policy. Our government applied this progressive tax in 2007 in order to effect income redistribution in the way that households which use a lot of electricity get charged a lot of tax, while low-income households have a lower tax bill.

However, many experts in electric academia agree that we should change this electric fee policy which has been kept for 10 years. A welfare discount fee is applied to in low-income households, however disabled households which have no choice but to use a lot of electricity have to pay a large fee because of the progressive tax, they said. While the effect of income redistribution goes down, this is circumstancial that low-income households should conserve electricity.

With the citizen's backlash and worries, the government released a new policy which discounts 20% of the tax fee during the 2016 summer. Still, this hasn't died away easily because this is not the fundamental cause. One member of the National Assembly said, "We shouldn't have this temporary policy; we should discuss the policy of electricity fees in depth."

Since we are having too much burden with our electricity fees, several tips which can help conserve electricity have attracted the attention of people. First, unplug useless things from the power outlet. This method can save 30% of the bill. This is the easiest one to carry out but it's difficult to do this because of habits. An other way is cleaning air conditioner filters periodically. Simply removing dust in filter can improve cooling efficiency and can keep prevent mold and viruses. In addition, keep the fridge a little empty while keeping the freezer full can help. By following these tips, we can save electricity and money in the home.

L.L.F reporter Ji-won Bak