Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy releases spring weekend EV public charger discount earnings; total savings reach 75.46 million won, confirming policy effect of renewable energy supply expansion
Discounting public electric vehicle charger rates during daytime hours on weekends and public holidays led to a measurable increase in charging activity, the government said Thursday.
The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy said the daily average number of charging sessions on weekends and public holidays from April 18 to May 31 reached 4,654 — up 9.2 percent from the 4,261 daily average recorded in the week before the discount took effect, from April 4 to April 10.
The ministry and Korea Electric Power Corp. had discounted rates at more than 13,000 public EV chargers they operate by 40.1 to 48.6 won per kilowatt-hour between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. during that period.
Total charging sessions over the discount period came to 79,114, with cumulative savings of 75.46 million won ($49,300).
The weekend and public holiday daytime discount was introduced to encourage electricity consumption during spring and autumn weekend afternoons, when renewable energy supply tends to peak.
The ministry passed savings equivalent to the discounted "EV charging power rate" directly to users at public chargers to steer demand toward those hours. It plans to revive the public EV charging discount in September and October.
Jeong Seon-hwa, the ministry's director general for green transition policy, said the discount was designed "to encourage electricity use during hours when renewable energy supply is high and to return benefits to users." She added that it "marks an important first step in pre-checking the rate-billing operating system ahead of the future introduction of a season- and time-linked charging rate scheme."
thlee@heraldcorp.com
