Industry minister Lee Chang-yang says the nuclear phase-out policy of the Moon Jae-in administration is to blame for the Yoon Suk Yeol government’s electricity rate hike.

Lee shared his assessment during a parliamentary interpellation session on Tuesday when asked by ruling People Power Party Representative Han Moo-kyung whether he agreed that the electricity rate hike could be attributed to the previous government’s energy policy.

The minister said a decline in the proportion of low-cost power sources, such as nuclear power plants, in the country’s energy portfolio, combined with a rise in the proportion of high-priced sources such as liquefied natural gas(LNG) or new and renewable energy contributed to the electricity fee increase.

He said that the proportion of nuclear energy dropped by three percentage points under the Moon government while the proportion of LNG and new and renewable energy jumped by five percentage points during the five-year period. 

The heavier dependence on costly sources as a result helped make the nation vulnerable to a recent hike in international energy prices, Lee said.