| 摘要 | ��
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1. Research Purpose
The Korean economy has shown a low economic growth and the polarization of income has been expanded since 2000, which led to the increase of low income households. Recently, the soaring energy prices have a negative effect on the energy consumption of low income households. These changes cause to increase the number of household that cannot afford the appropriate level of energy consumption.
In spite of these environmental changes, energy assistance to low income families are not satisfactory, compared to other welfare programs. The government has provided cash benefit for household with income under minimum living cost and assists households in state of emergency, based on the related laws(for example, NBLSA: the National Basic Livelihood Security Act). Energy costs are involved in the cash benefit. However. the cash benefit program is not for energy assistance only. So, it seems that the government had no energy assistance program for low income households actually. For this reason, the government has introduced various energy assistance programs since 2006. But most programs are not based upon the related law.
The aim of this study is to improve the existing energy assistance programs for low income families to consume the appropriate level of energy. Especially, we focus upon the introduction of an energy voucher.
2. Summary
We can find some interesting characteristics about energy consumption behaviour by income level from the Energy Census and Household Income and Expenditure Survey. According to the Energy Census 2005 and 2008, as the level of income goes up, the quantity of energy consumption also increases. However, the difference of consumption quantity between income groups is very moderate relative to the difference of income between groups, which implies that energy is a necessary good. These facts imply that low income households should bear more burden than high income ones.
As low income families were hard put to buy energy, various energy assistance programs for low income households has been introduced since 2006. However, most programs are provided by energy suppliers and adopt a price assistance method. This means that the programs have limits in including eligible families as many as possible. Of course, the government provides cash benefit for low income households under minimum living cost in which energy costs are involved. However, this assistance program is not for energy assistance only. And the energy costs of the cash benefit is insufficient to buy the appropriate level of energy. Also, it discloses the problem that some households buy other goods, instead of energy.
To improve these problems of cash benefit, energy consumption of low income families should be estimated exactly. And a new assistance program to compensate cash benefit should be introduced. For these, first, we set a standard family which consists of four members. The energy consumption of the standard family is estimated from the residential energy consumption data of Energy Census 2005. The estimation result shows that the quantity of energy consumption is more than that determined in the minimum living cost measurement . So, if the government intends to guarantee sufficient energy consumption of low income households, the difference between two results should be compensated with cash or other types of subsidies. We propose a energy voucher. A voucher is distinguished from cash benefit in purchasing specific goods only. It is also distinguished from in-kind benefit in providing the right of choice among goods. Recently, voucher has introduced in various welfare services, especially in education services. The energy voucher implies a system that beneficiaries purchase energy source with coupon or credit card and energy suppliers receive their costs from the government.
3. Research Results and Policy Suggestions
According to the analysis results, energy costs in cash benefit for household with income under minimum living cost is estimated to be less 100��200 thousand won per year than the costs to purchase the appropriate level of energy. It means that energy voucher should be provided to low income families for energy consumption, especially for the winter season. Coupon or credit card(e-voucher) can be considered as a type of voucher. Eligibility criteria for beneficiary of energy voucher depend on the volume of fund. If there exists budget constraint, the elderly, disabled, or young child should be a top priority among households with income under minimum living cost.
A energy voucher system proposed in this report will be a temporary complement to the existing energy assistance programs. There are still many problems to be settled. For energy assistance programs including energy voucher to be efficient and effective, most importantly, data on energy consumption behaviour of low income households should be constructed. The estimation results of this report are based on the Energy Census data, which have limits to explaining the energy consumption behaviour of low income households.
146 pages, 45 refs., 41 tabs., 6 Figs., Language: Korean |
