Electricity is the largest ongoing expense for any Scrypt mining operation in South Korea. Operators who model costs using a flat rate often discover their margin disappears during summer months. This note explains the variables we document in every farm efficiency audit.
Rate Structure Basics
Commercial and industrial electricity accounts in the Seoul area typically include a base rate, energy charge per kWh, and seasonal adjustments. Residential rates apply only to home setups below roughly 3 kW sustained draw — most Scrypt ASIC units at 0.05 GH/s and above exceed that threshold quickly when you run more than one device.
Summer Peak Impact
From June through August, KEPCO applies higher energy charges during designated peak hours — usually mid-afternoon through early evening. A farm drawing 50 kW continuously during these blocks pays substantially more per megahash than the same farm operating identical hardware in March. We measure actual meter readings during audits rather than relying on annual averages.
Co-location vs Self-Hosted
Co-location facilities in the Seoul metro typically quote all-in power rates between ₩85 and ₩140 per kWh depending on rack density and cooling overhead. Self-hosted operations in commercial space may achieve lower per-kWh rates but carry lease, cooling, and maintenance costs that co-location bundles. Compare total cost per megahash, not just the electricity line item.
Right-Sizing Your Fleet
Adding units without upgrading PDU capacity or cooling creates throttling that wastes power without producing hashes. Our farm audits frequently find the cheapest improvement is removing underperforming units rather than adding new ones. A single Antminer L9 at 0.218 W/MH often replaces two older units drawing more total watts for fewer combined megahashes.
Planning Tool
Use the W/MH figures in our Hashrate Guide multiplied by your actual power rate and expected uptime to model monthly cost before purchase. If the result exceeds your expected mining revenue at current pool difficulty, the hardware does not fit your economics regardless of hashrate headline numbers.