Primelectric Benchmarks South Korea’s Power Distribution System

Technology is always evolving. Primelectric Holdings, Inc. has always been committed to elevating the local power distribution system to be at par with world standards. In its drive to further improve consumer services, officials of Primelectric recently traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to study the country’s advanced power distribution system.

KEPCO: A Benchmark in Power Distribution System

The Philippine delegation was led by Primelectric President and CEO Roel Castro, who visited the Transmission and Distribution Headquarters of the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). The electric company has been recognized globally as the World’s Best in Transmission and Distribution Efficiency.

KEPCO presented how it maintains its remarkably low system loss of 3.53% and system average incident frequency index of just 0.6% per year—a clear indication that the utility experiences almost zero unscheduled power interruptions across its network.

A major contributor to this performance is South Korea’s use of modern equipment and high-tech facilities, which significantly boost efficiency and reliability.

Underground Cabling System in Korea

As of today, 12.3% of its distribution lines are already underground, particularly in commercial districts. Moreover, all lines are fully insulated, and thousands of automatic circuit reclosers (ACRs) are installed with the capability to reconnect power within just one second.

The delegation was also shown unmanned substations, control panels, switches, ACRs, and other equipment—most of which are fully digitalized and remotely operated.

KEPCO likewise demonstrated its ability to conduct live line maintenance works, which no longer require power shutdowns.

Primelectric officials also expressed admiration for KEPCO’s strict implementation of safety standards, particularly its use of specialized safety gear and protocols to protect linemen and technical personnel.

KEPCO Insights Set the Pace for Primelectric’s Modernization Efforts

According to Castro, this benchmarking mission will significantly influence the direction of Primelectric and its operating units—MORE Power, Negros Power, and Bohol Light—as well as other potential expansion areas in the Philippines.

“What we saw in KEPCO is not just technology, but a mindset—a culture of efficiency, reliability, and safety. This is the level of service we want to bring to our consumers,” Castro said.“We plan to send our engineers to the KEPCO Academy to speed up the adoption of modernized systems and familiarize them with world-class equipment.”

With the delegation’s return to the Philippines, Primelectric aims to implement the modern practices it learned—phase by phase—to steadily move toward world-class standards in the country’s power distribution sector.