The 2026 energy voucher table gives one amount per household size and, underneath it, a smaller amount in brackets. For one person, 295,200 won with (40,700 won) below. Reading those as "the summer share and the winter share" is wrong.
1. The total is spent freely across the whole window (1 July 2026 to 31 May 2027), summer or winter.
2. The bracket is what remains if you take other aid. Take the coal coupon, the coal-switch voucher or emergency fuel aid and only that is paid, usable in summer only.
3. Both subparagraphs must be met. A benefit alone will not do, and a household trait alone will not either (Decree art. 13-2).
4. No amount appears in any statute. Act, Decree and notice set none; the figures come from the annual programme guidance.
Pick the benefit, the household trait and the size, and it shows whether you qualify and what 2026 pays.
Statute, ministry notice and programme guidance are three different sources here. Article 16-3 of the Energy Act only says the voucher goes to a person meeting requirements prescribed by Presidential Decree, and article 13-2 of the Decree splits those into two subparagraphs that must both be met: the first pairs a benefit with a household trait, the second lists disqualifications. The Decree names only the livelihood and medical benefits; housing and education benefits, along with severe illness, single-parent, youth-headed and larger families, arrive through article 2(1) of the Regulation on the Operation of the Energy Voucher Programme (Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment notice 2026-141). The second subparagraph looks not at the applicant but at anyone in that person's household. No amount appears in any of them — the figures above are the 2026 programme amounts, and the bracketed amount is what remains if you also take the coal coupon, the coal-switch voucher or emergency fuel aid, usable in summer only. Article 4-2 of the notice allows carrying the cooling portion forward into heating, and not the other way. Exceptional payment, appeals and the case where the registered address differs from where you live are not included. An estimate — confirm at your local community service centre.
Both subparagraphs, not either
Article 16-3 of the Energy Act says only that the voucher goes to a person meeting requirements prescribed by Presidential Decree. Article 13-2 of the Decree carries those, and it opens with "a person meeting all of the following requirements".
Subpara. 1 shall fall under any of the following items
a. a member of a household containing any of the following, being a livelihood benefit or medical benefit recipient
1) a person aged 65 or over 2) an infant 3) a registered person with disability 4) a pregnant woman
b. any other person the Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment recognises and publishes by notice
Being on benefits is not enough by itself. Someone on the same register must also carry one of those traits. And the reverse holds too.
Housing and education benefits are not named in the Decree
Item a names only the livelihood and medical benefits. Housing and education benefit recipients arrive through item b, "published by notice" — article 2(1)2 of the Regulation on the Operation of the Energy Voucher Programme (notice 2026-141). Severe illness, single-parent, youth-headed and larger families come from the same notice.
| Household trait | Where it is written |
|---|---|
| 65 or over (born 1961 or earlier) | Decree art. 13-2 (1) a 1) |
| Infant (7 or under, pre-school) | same item, 2) |
| Registered disability | same item, 3) |
| Pregnant or recently delivered | same item, 4) |
| Severe, rare or intractable illness | Notice art. 2(1)1 a |
| Single-parent family | same subpara., b |
| Youth-headed household (incl. foster) | same subpara., c |
| Two or more children under 19 | same subpara., d |
| The Decree carries the top four, the notice the bottom four. Housing and education benefits are on the notice side too (art. 2(1)2). Age is cut by birth year, not birthday — for 2026, born on or before 31 December 1961. | |
The second subparagraph does not look at you
The second one lists disqualifications, and its subject is not the applicant.
Subpara. 2 no member of the household to which a person under subparagraph 1 belongs shall fall under any of the following
a. receiving heating oil support b. receiving benefits in an institution
c. receiving fuel costs under the Emergency Aid and Support Act in the relevant year e. receiving briquettes under the Coal Industry Act
What the people you live with have received decides the whole household. Only item c carries the words "in the relevant year", so that ground lapses when the year turns — the other three name no period at all. Item d was deleted in 2023 and now sits empty.
The programme guidance, though, writes the institution ground as "everyone in the household", and treats the coal coupon and emergency fuel aid as a reduction rather than a disqualification. Statute and practice appear to diverge here, so an actual application should be checked at the local community service centre.
The bracket is not the summer share
The footnote under the table reads: usable freely across the window regardless of season, "provided that where the coal coupon, the coal-switch energy voucher or fuel aid under the Emergency Aid and Support Act is preferred, only the bracketed amount is paid (usable in summer only)".
So the bracket is not what summer gets; it is everything that remains once winter is covered elsewhere. That removes 254,500 won from a one-person household and 599,300 won from four or more.
Article 4-2 of the notice opens one direction only: "a person issued a voucher may carry all or part of the cooling amount forward for heating use." Money saved in summer moves into winter, but the winter portion cannot be pulled back into summer. And if you do not want summer bills deducted automatically, that has to be requested separately.
Against the coal-switch voucher, it turns at four
A household that replaced a coal boiler with another kind since January 2026 can take the coal-switch energy voucher. It pays 576,000 won, a flat amount regardless of household size. In exchange it cannot be held together with that winter's energy voucher — only the summer part remains.
| Household | Voucher total | Summer part | Coal route |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | 295,200 | 40,700 | 616,700 |
| 2 people | 407,500 | 58,800 | 634,800 |
| 3 people | 532,700 | 75,800 | 651,800 |
| 4 or more | 701,300 | 102,000 | 678,000 |
| All figures in won. The "coal route" is the summer part plus the 576,000 won coal switch. Bold marks the larger: it is 321,500 won better for one person; the voucher is 23,300 won better for four or more. The coal-switch figure is the one the guidance describes as "the same as the coal coupon amount". | |||
The amount is not the whole choice. The energy voucher buys electricity, city gas, district heating, kerosene, LPG and briquettes; the coal-switch voucher settles only electricity, city gas, kerosene and LPG. The coal coupon buys briquettes and nothing else. What the house actually burns comes first.
The coal-switch route also opens one door wider. Article 2(1)3 of the notice includes "a person not falling under the class of eligible recipients, whose recognised income is 50 percent of the median or less". You need not be on basic living benefits at all if you are near-poverty, or older, disabled, a single parent or a youth-headed household.
From the fifth person, nothing is added
The last column of the amount table is "four or more". Five people and eight people both receive 701,300 won. So the amount each member shares falls all the way from 295,200 won at one person to 116,883 won at six.
Members are counted from the resident register. But the reporting window is open far longer in one direction: an increase can be reported until 31 May 2027, while a decrease closed on 26 June 2026.
Questions that remain
When does the application close?
15 June to 31 December 2026. The spending window runs 1 July 2026 to 31 May 2027, with summer ending 30 September and winter opening 1 October for the virtual card and 3 October for the physical one. The coal-switch voucher runs on its own dates: applications 3 August to 31 December, spending 3 October to 31 May 2027.
Can summer buy any fuel?
No. The guidance states that the summer voucher can only be applied for on electricity, and only through bill deduction. Winter offers a choice between bill deduction and the physical welfare card, and the advice is to pick whichever fuel your largest bill is on.
If I received it last year, is this year automatic?
It is, where nothing has changed and eligibility holds. But a move or a change in household size means applying afresh — relying on the automatic path drops you out.
Does the voucher reduce other benefits?
The guidance states that the voucher amount is not counted in a recipient's income assessment.
What does this calculator leave out?
Exceptional payment (limited mobility, remote islands, lease-fraud victims, a registered address made uninhabitable by disaster), appeals, the finer branches of heating-oil and briquette support, and the amount of emergency fuel aid. That last is a different programme and is not measured here.
Sources
Energy Act [in force 1 February 2026] [Act 20727] — article 16-3 (issuing the energy voucher). An amendment of 1 October 2025 changed the subject of that article from the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy to the Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment.
Enforcement Decree of the Energy Act [in force 2 January 2026] [Decree 35947] — article 13-2 (who receives the voucher), article 13-4 (application), article 13-6 (exceptional payment).
Regulation on the Operation of the Energy Voucher Programme [in force 11 June 2026] [notice 2026-141] — article 2(1) (the people the notice adds), article 4-2 (carrying cooling forward into heating), article 6 (exceptional payment).
Amounts and dates come from the 2026 guidance on the Korea Energy Agency's energy voucher site: the amount table, the application and spending windows, and the coal-switch voucher pages. Because the statute carries no amount, that part alone has a different source.
The script was checked against the model across 1,728 combinations, in Korean and in English — 6 benefit values x 9 household traits x 4 sizes x coal coupon 2 x boiler switch 2 x institution 2, with no mismatch.
Where to check
Eligibility is confirmed at your local community service centre or on the Bokjiro portal. The winter bill itself can be measured with the electricity bill calculator, and if the heating is gas, the city gas bill calculator is the right one — holding this voucher lowers the gas discount cap by 62,000 won. and the cooling side sits in what one degree of air conditioning costs. If health insurance premiums are the other worry, that is premiums after leaving work.
