Ministry of Industry to Transfer Electrical Safety Management Agency Work to Private Sector by 2026

Employees of the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation are providing technical support such as cause analysis at the site of electrical equipment failure.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 28th that it will transfer the electrical safety management agency work of the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation to the private sector by 2026, ahead of the original plan.

Previously, according to the 'Electrical Safety Management Act' enforced in April last year, the Ministry decided to gradually reduce the safety management agency business of the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation, which competes with private companies, over eight years until 2029. However, the Ministry decided to advance the transfer to the private sector by three years from the original plan to strengthen the public functions of the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation and to revitalize private companies in the agency business sector. Considering the restructuring of the corporation’s business due to early private transfer and securing the management foundation such as financial soundness, the Ministry set the phased transfer period to five years.

However, agency work in some areas such as islands and mountainous remote regions will be maintained as is. This is because private companies avoid agency work in these areas due to low profitability, which could cause gaps in electrical safety management.

When the agency work is transferred to the private sector, the agency business volume worth 82.4 billion KRW will also move to the private market. The Ministry expects that the transfer of agency work to the private sector will create about 450 jobs annually. The annual business activation scale is estimated to reach approximately 35 billion KRW.

The Korea Electrical Safety Corporation will reassign personnel dedicated to agency work to new fields such as power plant inspections and precise diagnosis of Energy Storage Systems (ESS). The Ministry plans to continuously seek ways to strengthen electrical equipment safety and revitalize private businesses through improvements in the electrical safety management system.