“I don’t even have a belt to tighten anymore, but all I can do is sigh over heating bills.”
On the 29th, the lowest temperature dropped to -8 degrees. At a restaurant in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, an argument broke out between a customer who asked for a higher room temperature and the store owner who said it was difficult to raise the temperature.
When a customer said, “It’s too cold. Please turn the temperature up a bit,” Mr. Seo, the owner of the store, expressed disapproval by saying, “This temperature is the best because the heating cost is too high. Please forgive me.” In the end, the guests were eating with a dissatisfied look, making noises without taking off their coats. The wind blew strongly in sub-zero weather, so the perceived temperature was low, so the inside of the restaurant felt chilly. Mr. Seo said, “The heating cost went up by about 30% in December, so I tried to reduce it as much as possible in January, so I couldn’t help it.”
The soaring heating cost is causing the self-employed business owners to suffer. This is because the burden of heating costs has recently increased, and guests have requested that the room temperature be raised due to the cold wave every day. In particular, city gas rates have risen significantly, and restaurants and public baths that use a lot of gas have even said, “If you do business, you lose money.” Nam, who runs a public bath in Dongdaemun-gu, said, “I’m afraid of the heating bill coming.”
In fact, the gas wholesale fee supplied to the self-employed is on the rise. According to data released by the Korea Gas Corporation and the Korea City Gas Association, as of December last year, the wholesale gas rate for business heating was 34.69 won per MJ (megajoule). Compared to December 2021 (22.01 won) a year ago, it soared 57.6%. This is a much higher rate of increase than the 42.3% increase in residential heating rates over the same period. In October of last year, the price of gas for business use 1 used in restaurants increased by 16.4% and the price of gas used in public baths increased by 17.4%. It was higher than the increase rate for housing (15.9%).
Self-employed people are trying various ways to prevent ‘heating cost bomb’, but customers’ complaints are still there. Mr. Choi (60), who runs an 80-pyeong study cafe in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, was shocked by the recent heating bill of 250,000 won more than usual. Instead of raising the room temperature, we put a wind-blocking vinyl on the windows and provided additional blankets. Still, complaints from students about the cold continued, and Mr. Choi is contemplating a plan to bring an electric stove. Ms. Choi said, “Even if I try to bring heating supplies, the electricity bill is too high, so this is also burdensome.”
Customers’ complaints about the lack of warmth in the room in cold weather are inevitable. Mr. Park (28), an office worker, said, “There is no place as warm as it used to be anywhere these days, so I wear a lot of coats even indoors.”
Customers protest when heating is minimized, and self-employed people who are afraid of a ‘heating cost bomb’ when meeting customer demands are growing. Mr. Kang (36), who runs a cafe in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, said, “The weather is cold, so even if I turn on the heating, it doesn’t get very warm, so there are many requests to increase the temperature.” It continues and I have a lot of worries,” he said.
Schools are also experiencing an increase in heating costs as public utility bills and demand for heating increase. In particular, in the case of autonomous schools such as foreign language high schools and private high schools, they are raising tuition fees to solve the sky-high heating cost burden because they do not receive operational support fees from the Office of Education.
An official from a foreign language high school in Seoul said, “In December 2021, the electricity bill came to 15 million won, but in December last year, 20 million won came out, so we inevitably raised the tuition this year by 5-10%.” We are guiding you to do it.”
However, in the case of general schools, it is understood that they are not experiencing difficulties in supply and demand of heating, as the heating costs are covered within the operating support budget of the Office of Education.
An official from a general high school in Seoul said, “The heating cost has risen, but it is not a situation where the pre-planned budget is not too short.
[박나은 기자 / 문가영 기자]
