KEPCO Q1 loss widens on lower power rates

(ATTN: ADDS more details in paras 6-8; UPDATES share price in last para)
SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), South Korea's state-run power company, said Wednesday that its first-quarter loss widened from a year earlier on lower electricity rates.
Net loss reached 550 billion won (US$502 million) in the January-March period, compared with a loss of 252 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales rose 13.3 percent to 10.79 trillion won over the cited period. The utility firm posted an operating loss of 501 billion won, shifting from an operating income of 214 billion won a year earlier.
KEPCO, the supplier of almost all of the country's electricity, has been forced to keep its power rates at lower levels as part of nationwide drives to curb rising inflation.
But the state-run utility is expected to raise power rates soon to reflect rising costs.
Early this month, Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung hinted at allowing KEPCO to adjust power tariffs.
Korea Gas Corp., another state utility firm, raised gas prices starting on May 1.
Consumer prices in South Korea rose 4.2 percent in April from a year earlier, slowing from a 4.7 percent expansion in March. But consumer inflation surpassed the upper ceiling of the Bank of Korea's 2-4 percent inflation target band for the fourth straight month.
Shares of KEPCO were trading at 29,200 won on the Seoul bourse as of 1:40 p.m., down 2.18 percent.
sam@yna.co.kr