The story
History
KEPCO traces its origins to Hanseong Jeongi Hoesa (Seoul Electric Company), founded in 1898 during the Korean Empire. It was wholly invested by King Gojong, who had a special interest in implementing electrical business in Korea; internally, the imperial-invested company was funded through Hanseong Electric's president Lee Chae-yeon. Subsequently, American businessmen Henry Collbran and Harry Rice Bostwick were contracted to manage Seoul's streetcars, lights, and telephone systems.
Hanseong Electric completed its first power plant in 1899 at Dongdaemun. By the end of that year, the company had succeeded in launching its streetcar service, and soon after had turned on its first electric lights in Seoul's Jongno Street. With a monopoly on Seoul's electricity and streetcar systems, Hanseong Electric continued to build up its public lighting network into the turn of the century, and began offering electrical service to private homes as well.
The company had also established a movie theater of which could be travelled to via the main line, a streetcar line that went through downtown Seoul and multiple districts; experts recall that opening an electric movie theater was part of a marketing ploy to promote the convenience of trains and attract tram passengers. A total of three lines were constructed, all of which connecting 5 different districts of Seoul (Seodaemun-Jongno-Dongdaemun-Cheongnyangni (Main Line), Jongno-Namdaemun-Yongsan (Yongsan Line), and Seodaemun-Namdaemun (Uiju Line)). Up until the Eulsa Treaty, the company had proved successful in expansion. Supporting the expansion included the enthusiastic support of Allen, a U.S. Legation official, including Lee Chae-yeon (the president), William F. Sands, a former secretary appointed as an internal adviser to the palace, and the active support of pro-American officials in Korea, including Lee Yoon-yong, Min Young-hwan, Min Sang-ho, and Kang Seok-ho.
The company's president Lee Chae-yeon, who was a pro-American leader, died in August 1900. Upon this, non pro-American Lee Yong-ik joined the executives of Hanseong Electric Company, tightly controlling the company's funding and strictly blocking Collbran's business expansion plans. Claiming it broke the mortgage contract, Collbran responded in demand for the repayment of debts related to the railroad construction project and pressed on profits. Lee Yong-ik refuted Collbran's request based on the "Brown Paper," which stated that Collbran's claims were over-inflated; this caused tensions to rise. Soon, a new contract was signed to settle the debt dispute of Hanseong Electric Company. Gojong mutually withdrew all demands between the two sides, and in February 1904 established Hanmi Electric Company (韓美電氣會社) to hand over all rights and assets. The management of Hanmi Electric Company was held by Collbran, and 50% of the company's shares were acquired by Gojong which increased his involvement and management of the company as the majority shareholder.
However, after Japan had won the Russo-Japanese War in September 1905, Japan had expanded their influence in the Korean Empire with the signing of the Eulsa Treaty. This included the process of absorbing, dismantling, and taking over various reform projects that the Korean Empire had pursued independently. The electric power industry, the basic industry of modern commercial and industrial development, was no exception. In June 1909, Collbran sold Hanseong Electric to a Japanese business named Ilhanwasa Co., Ltd
The announcement of the Chōsen Electricity Control Decree by the Colonial Korean government in March 1943 saw the integration of several electric companies into the Korea Electric Power Company. The Korea Electric Company (KECO), established through the integration of the Korea Electric Power Company and two distribution companies, Gyeongsung Electric Company and South Korea Electric Company, opened on 1 July 1961. In 1982, KECO became a wholly government owned entity and was renamed the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
KEPCO was listed on the Korea Stock Exchange on 10 August 1989 and later in 1994 on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1996, KEPCO was named the prime contractor for the multinational Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) project to construct a light water reactor nuclear power plant in North Korea, a project which was eventually abandoned in 2006. Following a push by the Korean government to restructure Korea's power industry which began in the mid-1990s, the Act on the Promotion of Restructuring the Electric Power Industry was proclaimed on 23 December 2000, after which the electricity generation business was split up into Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a subsidiary responsible for nuclear & hydro power generation, and five thermal power generation companies: Korea South-East Power, Korea Midland Power, Korea Western Power, Korea Southern Power, and Korea East-West Power.
In October 2012, Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation sold its 3.6% of its stake in KEPCO for a fee of around $550 million.
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Timeline
March 1887 – Turned the first electric lights on (Geongchung Palace inside Gyeongbok Palace)
January 1898 – Founded Hansung Electric Company
May 1899 - First power plant was established in Dongdaemun
May 1899 - First electric trolley car line was opened between Seodaemun and Dongdaemun
April 1900 – Lighted three streetlamps in Jongno by Hansung Electric Company (first-ever lighting in public area)
December 1900 - Yongsan trolley car line opened
July 1901 - Uiju trolley car line opened
June 1905 - First hydroelectric power plant, Unsan Hydropower, was completed
March 1944 – Completed Supung Hydro Power Plant (600,000 kW)
July 1961 – Established Korea Electric Power Company with Electricity Enterprises Act (three electric companies were merged)
April 1964 – Cleared limited electric power transmission for the first time since national liberation
December 1965 – Declared Act on the Promotion of Electrification in Agricultural and Fishing Villages
May 1968 – Exceeded one million kW in electric power generation capacity
April 1978 – Completed 1st unit of Kori Nuclear Power Plant (587,000 kW)
January 1982 – Launched Korea Electric Power Corporation
August 1989 – Listed on the Korea Stock Exchange as people's share No.2
October 1994 – Listed on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time
February 1995 – Won bid to operate Malaya power plant in the Philippines
August 1997 – Broke ground for KEDO nuclear power plant construction
July 2000 – Exceeded 40 million kW in maximum demand electric power
April 2001 – Spun the business off into six power generation subsidiaries
June 2002 – Completed Ilijan Gas combined cycle power plant, the largest in the Philippines
November 2005 – Increased voltage to 220 V for distribution line, and commenced electric power supply to Gaesung Industrial Complex
June 2006 – Awarded Edison Award
September 2006 – Launched independent project division
December 2009 – Exported nuclear power plant to overseas for the first time (UAE)
December 2011 – Selected as corrupt-free institute for six years in a row in anti-corruption evaluation, and ranked first in customer satisfaction for 13 years in a row
February 2012 – Completed Al Qatrana power plant in Jordan
December 2012 – Ranked first in the public sector for 14 years in a row
October 2013 – Hosted the World Energy Council, the world's largest and most influential energy event, in Daegu
December 2014 – Relocated to Bitgaram Innovation City, opening the Energy Valley Era
October 2015 – Successfully held Bitgaram International Exposition on Electric Power Technology (BIXPO 2015)
May 2016 – Selected as the top electric utility in the 2016 Platts
August 2016 – Won a 2016 CIO 100 Award, a first for a Korean company
October 2016 – Signed a joint venture agreement for the operation of the UAE power plant
From Wikipedia’s article on Korea Electric Power Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7