Electricity Bills in Korea: KEPCO or Apartment Management?
Before checking an electricity bill in Korea, find out who charges you for electricity: Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), your building's management office, or your landlord. A KEPCO ON account does not automatically give you access to your home's electricity records.
Which bill do you actually receive?
| What you have | Start here | Ask or check |
|---|---|---|
| A separate KEPCO electricity bill | The current bill and KEPCO's official service | The service address, customer number, billing period and registered contract details. |
| Electricity included in apartment management charges | The itemized management bill and management office | Your unit's usage, meter-reading period, common-area charges and allocation method. |
| An amount collected by a landlord or manager | Ask for the supporting statement and agreed allocation | Whether it is a direct KEPCO charge, a shared-meter allocation or a fixed charge in the lease. Do not infer the arrangement from the building's appearance. |
KEPCO's official FAQ explains that a 종합계약아파트 can have one KEPCO contract, meter and customer number for the complex, while its unit meters are installed by the apartment itself. In that arrangement there is no separate KEPCO customer number for each unit. This is not a claim that every apartment uses the same contract.
Search the FAQ for 아파트 관리비 to find the question about electricity included in management charges. If you need a number for a particular application, ask the office which number and unit details that process requires. Do not treat a building-wide number as proof that you personally hold the electricity contract.
A KEPCO ON login and an electricity contract are different
On KEPCO ON, the public sign-up selector currently includes foreigners under 개인 (individual). The same screen has separate categories for corporations and apartment management offices. A resident should not choose an office category merely because they live in an apartment.
The next public page asks for terms and personal-data consent. I stopped before agreeing, entering identity details or creating an account. A listed membership category is not proof that every resident can complete identity verification with their current name, phone or documents.
For individual customers, KEPCO's FAQ gives this route: My (마이) → Customer Number Registration/Lookup (고객번호 등록/조회) → Register Customer Number (고객번호 등록). It says registration requires the information actually recorded for the electricity contract. If the contract still names a previous user, a name-change step may be necessary. An app membership, a lease and the electricity contract record are not interchangeable.
Use your own verified information through the official process. Do not guess a previous tenant's identity details, use an unrelated person's verification or post contract information in a public comment. If your documents do not fit the process, ask KEPCO which supported route applies.
Read the bill before using a calculator
Compare the usage in kWh, the meter-reading period (검침기간) and the relevant contract category (계약종별). A calendar month and a billing period need not match. For a management-office bill, also ask how the unit charge and any common-area amount were calculated.
Use KEPCO's current electricity-rate calculator for the contract category, billing period and usage shown on your bill. The public page begins with 계약종별선택 (choose a contract category); do not guess low- or high-voltage residential service from the building type alone. Treat the calculation as an estimate, not the final amount charged. If electricity is billed through management fees, the office may need to explain the allocation.
If the amount looks wrong, compare like with like: the same address, period and usage, then the individual charge lines. A similar total on a neighbour's bill is not enough to establish what your own bill should be.
Two short questions you can show in Korean
If electricity is inside your management bill
전기요금이 관리비에 포함되어 있습니다. 우리 집에 별도 한전 고객번호가 있나요, 아니면 아파트 전체 계약인가요? 이번 청구의 세대 사용량, 검침기간, 공용 전기료와 배분 기준을 확인하고 싶습니다.
Meaning: Is there a separate KEPCO customer number for my unit, or a building-wide contract? Please explain this bill's unit usage, meter-reading period, common-area electricity and allocation basis.
If you receive a direct bill but cannot view it online
한전 청구서는 받았는데 한전ON에서 조회가 안 됩니다. 이 주소의 고객번호와 계약자 정보가 현재 사용자와 맞는지, 고객번호 등록이나 명의변경 중 어떤 절차가 필요한지 안내 부탁드립니다.
Meaning: I have received a KEPCO bill but cannot view it on KEPCO ON. Please explain whether the service address and contract record match the current user, and whether customer-number registration or a name change is needed. Share identifying details only through the official private channel.
If the website will not let you continue
As checked on 19 October 2026, the public homepage still displayed a notice dated 15 October about delayed login and sign-up because of a server issue. That notice alone does not establish whether your particular failure has the same cause or whether service has since recovered. Check the latest notice before repeatedly attempting to register.
For electricity enquiries, KEPCO lists 123 as its paid, 24-hour customer centre; its current support page gives area code + 123 for mobile calls. See the official contact guidance. Ask what language assistance is available rather than relying on an unverified English-menu shortcut. A building-management bill may still need the management office's unit-level explanation.
Can a foreign household apply for a family electricity discount?
KEPCO's current family-discount guidance expressly includes a document route for foreign and overseas-Korean households. It is not a general discount for every foreign resident: the household must meet the relevant conditions for a large-family household, a three-child household or a household with a child under three and the residential electricity requirements.
The public page says domestic residence report cards or foreign registration cards may replace the Korean resident register for those households. Ask which records establish the household members and applicable family condition; one person's card does not by itself establish eligibility. For these three categories, KEPCO lists 30% of the relevant month's charge, capped at KRW 16,000, prorated from the application date. Apartment customers may apply through their management office. The application and the actual discount on a bill are different stages.
Renewal matters for the foreign/overseas-Korean large-family discount. Note ② on the downloadable official application form says it applies for 12 months from the month of first application and requires annual reapplication with unchanged household membership confirmed. If a household member's permitted stay expires within that year, it applies only through the expiry month; continuing requires an extension of stay and reapplication by the expiry date. This is the form's large-family rule, not a claim that every foreign welfare discount or newborn discount renews on the same timetable.
If you move, notify KEPCO about the old address and apply for the new one as required; the form warns that the old location's discount ends. Start with the official welfare-discount page and its downloadable application form, then match your address, customer number and household category. A Korean comparison of the categories is available in the electricity welfare-discount guide.
Family-discount page and blank official application form checked October 21, 2026. No eligibility decision, application, contract change or bill verification was performed.
Can a foreign resident apply for Energy Cashback?
Energy Cashback is separate from the family discount above and from KEPCO ON membership. KEPCO's Energy Cashback FAQ says foreign customers cannot apply online. They can apply at the responsible branch with a registration card (외국인등록증) or proof of foreign registration (외국인등록사실증명) showing their details, address of stay and stay dates. Use the branch contact search to check where to go.
Submitting an application does not guarantee a credit. The scheme page excludes households whose apartment usage data has not been supplied, those without the previous year's same-month usage data, and participants in another KEPCO energy-saving programme. If you have just moved in, the FAQ says the comparison uses the previous occupant's usage at the same property, not your old home's usage. Calculated cashback is deducted from the following month's electricity bill, not paid as cash.
For July–December 2026 meter readings, the temporary schedule starts at a 1% reduction and reaches up to KRW 120 per kWh saved, with savings beyond a 30% reduction excluded from the cashback calculation. The maximum rate is not applied to every saving. Match the current table to your meter-reading period; do not carry this temporary 2026 schedule into another year.
Energy Cashback FAQ and scheme page checked 23 October 2026. Confirm the branch's current document requirements before visiting.
If you are moving in or out
When moving in or out, ask whoever bills you—KEPCO, the management office or your landlord—who will handle the final meter reading, which dates the final charge covers, and how you will receive the final statement.
- Apartment management fees: move-out statements, meters and repair reserves
- Mail forwarding after a move in Korea
- More Life in Korea guides
Checked 19 October 2026 (KST): KEPCO ON's public billing-login boundary, membership selector, unchecked consent page, current notices and customer-number FAQs. No private bill, identity verification, contract change, sign-up or payment was completed. Korean source notes: 한전ON 사용량과 여름 요금 구조.