The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment holds a joint forum with six civil society organizations, including Energy Transition Forum

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE, Minister Kim Sungwhan) will hold a forum on the “Power Oversight System in the 100 GW Renewable Energy Era” on the morning of April 30 at the HJ Business Center (located in Jongno-gu, Seoul), together with six civil society organizations, including Energy Transition Forum, Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), Energy and Space, Green Energy Strategy Institute (GESI), Public Renewable Energy Forum, and Green Consumer Network in Korea (GCN).

Through the “Energy Grand Transition Plan of the People’s Sovereign Government*,” unveiled on April 6 this year, the government is pursuing a leap toward an “electro-state” to enhance future national competitiveness, including shifting the energy structure from fossil fuel–based systems to one centered on renewable energy.

* Reported at the 14th Cabinet Meeting and the 4th Emergency Economic Inspection Meeting on April 6, 2026

The energy transition goes beyond a simple change in the energy mix; it is a process of reorganizing the electricity production and consumption system from a centralized, one-way structure to a decentralized, two-way structure. To institutionally support this structural shift and enhance transparency and fairness in the power market, the government is also pursuing reforms to the electricity oversight system.

This forum has been organized to directly hear the views of civil society organizations on the direction of reforming the electricity oversight system in line with the era of the energy transition.

Jung Hyun-soo, Chair of the Green Transition Committee at GCN, is expected to state at the forum, “Now is the time to realize ‘energy democracy,’ in which citizens directly participate in energy production, consumption, and decision-making, in order to overcome the climate crisis and transition to a renewable energy society,” and to emphasize that “beyond simply securing public acceptance, energy cooperatives in which consumers themselves become producers should be expanded, and the paradigm of the power structure must be fundamentally transformed through citizen-led solar power generation.”

Kim Geon-young, an attorney at SFOC, will present a concrete proposal to enhance the independence and expertise of the electricity oversight system, stating that “by referencing the financial industry regulatory framework composed of the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, it is necessary to establish an Electricity Supervisory Authority that secures ‘independence’ from specific stakeholders and ‘expertise’ in the power industry.”

Kwon Pil-seok, Director of GESI, will note that “the energy transition is not merely an expansion to 100 GW of renewable energy, but a fundamental shift from a synchronous generator–driven system to an inverter-based distributed system,” and plans to suggest that “the Electricity Supervisory Authority should adopt a vision of providing proactive support for the energy transition.”

Meanwhile, Lee Gyung-hoon, Secretary General of the Electricity Regulatory Committee, emphasized, “For the opening of the 100 GW renewable energy era, citizens must go beyond being mere consumers and become prosumers (producer + consumer) who directly generate electricity, as well as flexumers (flexible + consumer) who practice flexible consumption.”

He explained, “As outlined in the government’s Energy Grand Transition Plan, the goal is to realize ‘energy income for 10 million citizens’ through solar, wind, and grid-based earnings, and to encourage citizens to take the lead in the energy transition by actively utilizing discounted daytime charging rates in line with the era of one million cumulative electric vehicles.” He also added, “The government will continue to communicate with stakeholders to reform the electricity oversight system in line with these changes.”

Based on the opinions presented at this forum, the MCEE plans to pursue amendments to the Electric Utility Act to reform the electricity oversight system, and to establish an institutional foundation for the energy transition through inter-ministerial consultations and discussions with the National Assembly.