SEOUL: South Korean utility major Korea Electric Power CorporationKEP reported second-quarter 2016 net income of KRW 1,768 billion ($1.516.9 million), up 31.7% from KRW 1,342 billion in the year-ago quarter. During the quarter, the company’s revenues, however, dropped 2.9% year over year to KRW 13,275 billion ($11,390 million). The company’s operating income surged 29.5% to KRW 2,705 billion from KRW 2,088 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Korea Electric Power’s first-half revenues grew by only 0.6%. However, its consolidated operating profits rose 45.8% to KRW6.3 trillion in the first half of 2016 from KRW4.3 trillion in the first half of 2015. This was mainly driven by reduction in fuel costs and electricity purchase costs. This includes an 18% year-on-year drop in generation fuel costs, a 15% decline in the cost of purchasing electricity from independent power producers, and a near-absence of tariff cuts since Jun 2015. Lower prices for coal and liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) and higher generation volume from less costly nuclear reactors and coal-fired power plants mainly helped in reducing costs.
