가스産業의 市場化에 따른 法的 爭點 및 課題

Abstract

In the energy sector, especially network-bound energy industries like electricity and natural gas, liberalization has been one of the main issues of industrialized countries. There are some changes in the traditional role of state to provide directly public services. The marketization of the natural gas industry indicates that the paradigm based on state monopoly should be shifted toward price mechanism and competition on the merits. In Korea, there has been strong opposition to liberalization, which is still wedded to the concept of a monopoly, unified utility serving as importer, transporter, and supplier. The Korea Gas Corporation(KOGAS) owned by the state monopolizes the stages from import to transmission of gas (wholesale market), and General Distribution Operators have been in activities as regional monopolies(retail market). Over decades it has been made much debates whether or why the introduction of competition in gas sector is needed, and after IMF crisis the liberalization of gas industry had been pursued, but in vain. It is no doubt that natural gas industry should be restructured for more civil initiatives and more competition. The problem is when and how. With the rising global energy market and reducing entry barriers, competition is likely to increase in the future. Creating and fostering effective competition in the gas sector are anticipated to bring more investment in the transmission, distribution, and even exploration abroad, to make gas prices down to the competitive level. The former enhances the security of gas supply, the latter the comsumer welfare. The starting point of the marketization of gas industry is privatization, ownership change. In its implementation process, it should be preferred legal or ownership unbundling to TPA or additional entry of verticallly integrated firms, because the latter would entail so complicated intervention of state in the long term. With effective competition firmly established, the ex post regulation of general competition law will supersede many of the competition-substitutive ones.