''Koreans stunned by spike in heating costs''

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2023/01/419_344189.html

Canadian residents are at an advantage...

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2023/01/419_344189.html

Canadian residents are at an advantage...

Only time I turned the ondol on was to make sure my Mak fermented in time for my parents arrival. 4 days at 23 degrees?

Wow. I never turn on ondol, it causes mold growth in my apartment. If I get cold, I use electric heaters and blankets.

But I have been using the 외출 setting for the last couple of weeks just because it's been colder than usual. This is actually the first time I've felt like I needed to since coming to Korea since my boiler and pipes are located indoors and it normally doesn't get to freezing temps in my area. Wondering if this will have a noticeable impact on my bill next cycle.

I have  a relatively big apartment, keep it at 22, and paid about 60k for gas last month, so clearly the big spike hasn't affected all of South Korea?

I have  a relatively big apartment, keep it at 22, and paid about 60k for gas last month, so clearly the big spike hasn't affected all of South Korea?

Yes, utility prices seem to vary greatly depending on where you are. Someone I know pays one third of what I pay for 1 cubic meter of water. And we live in the same province. Electricity prices aren't the same everywhere either. So why would gas be an exception?
I have district heating so the gas bill is just a few thousand won. That's for cooking only. And then we have two other charges: hot water and heating. These are measured by seperate meters. A little heating is enough to keep our place at 22-23 celsius so we only paid like 25 thousand. But our hot water was 60.000 for december.
The heating cost definitely increased a lot. Last winter 1 cubic meter of heating water was 1.250 won. On our last bill it was 1.870 won. That's a 50%  increase. It also seems to be going up each month.

So I've had a 5k bump when compared to previous bills around the same time.

Not too bad for me, although my gas bill is normally around 10k to begin with, so that's like a 50% increase lol. But overall, my costs are still very low.

I paid 33 thousand won for January for gas.  But I bought this really expensive insulated breathable blanket a couple of years back.  Always had to turn the heat low before bed.  Otherwise too hot to sleep.  I have definitely earned back my money on that quilt.  Allerman I think is where I bought it?  Sale price of 200 thousand won.  Regular price much higher.  Just got in the habit of cranking the heat a bit in the evening for a couple of hours then turning down quite low till next morning.  The coldest days where it stayed below 0 or near 0 I just left it on low all day when I was out.  But nowadays, I always turn off in the morning and leave off till 6 or 7ish.  Now, I keep it on a very low setting anyhow.  Always got use to wearing thermals at home for partial warmth anyways.  Great and the other environmentalists really love me in winter.   (Summer with my air con cranked is another story.)  It does help I live in an apartment and is semi insulated though not as much as ideal but more than an older villa.  I did live in a newer villa for several years after moving to a regional city which was insulted with good double layered windows.  Actually moved into a slightly newer villa and was not insulated, terrible sound proofing, hot, then cold, etc.  Awful cheap ass builders.  Broke the lease and moved to the apartment I live now.  My first one room villa out in the country when I first arrived had a very high gas bill and was never warm.  Actually no gas line.  They had to come and fill the canister.  In winter was going through 150k a month.  One of the few things with inflation factored in where my prices actually went down.   But even my newer insulated villa one room, my bill in the coldest month maybe 10 years back had dropped to 60k a month.  It was the same to slightly higher when I moved to my current place.  But this quilt sheet made a huge difference in dropping the price.  Gotta save money where you can nowadays.  Korea's expensive and everything else is going up. 

i would say my bills gone up from last year, but i dont really have any basis for comparison. either its getting colder or im getting older, i didnt have to turn my heating on at all last winter but i cant go without it this year for whatever reason.

I've only had to turn on my ondol heating once this year.  My apartment is well insulated and stay at about 18 degrees all winter long. However the pipes are in the balcony and the one day it dipped below -4, i turned on the heater to keep the pipes from freezing up.  it was nice in the house that night.  I think thats one thing to consider when trying to skimp on the heating bill. If you turn it on and get used to a cushy temp of 22-24 degrees and nice warm floors...  youre gonna keep using it.  I trade off a bit of cold in the winter to save on bills for the summer, when ill be using my aircon to its full potential.

my old place stayed around 18. i dunno if its just the weather or the new apartment but ive had to run the heating a bit to keep it around that temp.

I've only had to turn on my ondol heating once this year.  My apartment is well insulated and stay at about 18 degrees all winter long. However the pipes are in the balcony and the one day it dipped below -4, i turned on the heater to keep the pipes from freezing up.  it was nice in the house that night.  I think thats one thing to consider when trying to skimp on the heating bill. If you turn it on and get used to a cushy temp of 22-24 degrees and nice warm floors...  youre gonna keep using it.  I trade off a bit of cold in the winter to save on bills for the summer, when ill be using my aircon to its full potential.

Well, if you live down south and the coldest temperature was just under -4, that makes a big difference in how much heating is needed.
The coldest day was around -17 where I am. Heck, even tomorrow morning will be -5.

Well, if you live down south and the coldest temperature was just under -4, that makes a big difference in how much heating is needed.
The coldest day was around -17 where I am. Heck, even tomorrow morning will be -5.

pohang tomorrow will be -1 low  11 degree high.  its been lovely all winter

I never run ondol. The only thing I did differently this year was turn on 외출.

I think the lowest that my apartment temp has ever gotten was 12C, that I know of. I'm okay with the cold, I sleep very well in it.