KEPCO's Q3 Operating Profit Plunges Over 70%
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) posted an operating profit of 1.6441 trillion won for the third quarter (July–September) of this year, down 70.9% from the same period last year. The company announced its preliminary results on the 12th. The deterioration was driven by a growing fuel cost burden as international energy prices climbed amid the Middle East conflict, while electricity rates remained frozen. In fact, from January through September this year, the fuel costs KEPCO paid its power generation subsidiaries and the price of electricity purchased from private power producers rose by 3.1041 trillion won compared with a year earlier. Meanwhile, electricity sales revenue fell by 1.1606 trillion won instead, as rates stayed unchanged.
Third-quarter revenue declined 2.6% to 26.8518 trillion won, while net profit tumbled 77.9% to 835.9 billion won. On a standalone basis, excluding subsidiaries, KEPCO posted an operating loss of 99 billion won for the quarter — its first quarterly operating loss on a standalone basis in two years, since the third quarter of 2024. The weak third quarter also dragged down cumulative results. KEPCO's operating profit for the first nine months of the year came to 6.5569 trillion won, down 43.2% from a year earlier. Total liabilities stood at 209.6 trillion won at the end of the third quarter, with borrowings reaching 132.8 trillion won.
KEPCO explained that it had maintained a streak of quarterly profits for 13 consecutive quarters by activating its crisis management system and pursuing financial improvements since the outbreak of the Middle East war. "The upward trend in international energy prices is prolonging," the company said, adding, "We plan to keep our emergency management system focused on cost reduction and profitability to secure financial stability."
KEPCO must invest 55 trillion won in power grid construction over the next five years to support the government's three mega-projects. CEO Kim Dong-chul said at a press briefing in Naju, South Jeolla Province, on the 4th, "Raising electricity rates to a minimal, realistic level needs to be resolved somehow through discussions with the government."
