Electricity rate hikes are to remain capped at 3 percent, in line with regulations, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday in an effort to calm fears that it might allow a more drastic 7 percent price hike as rising fuel costs squeeze the profitability of state-run utilities.
The ministry’s remarks came after Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said it was mulling to lift electricity rates for a second time this year, as rapid increases in the prices of crude, gas and coal caused losses of NT$24 billion (US$783.65 million) in the first six months of the year.
The cost of fuel imports made up 60 percent of Taipower’s overall generation costs.
Photo: Huang Pei-chun, Taipei Times
The company has to pass the mounting costs on to users to keep its operations healthy, Taipower chairman Yang Wei-fuu (楊偉甫) said.
“Under a mechanism created by the electricity price committee, electricity price changes are limited to a 3 percent hike or cut [every six months],” Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told reporters.
To fully reflect cost increases, the state-run company would have to hike power rates by 7 to 10 percent.
The shortfall would be compensated by allocating a sum from a stabilization fund, which stands at NT$79 billion, Shen said.
“We will respect the committee’s decision,” Shen said.
The pricing mechanism went into effect last year.
The committee holds two meetings yearly, in April and October, to discuss electricity rates.
Taipower in April raised its electricity prices by 3 percent.
Shen also dismissed lingering fears over a constrained electricity supply.
Taipower expects to maintain an operating reserve margin of about 6 percent through the end of the year as new power generation gradually come online and existing generation units resume normal operations as they come out of major maintenance, he said.
The operating reserve margin should rise to 10 percent next year, he added.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained