Electricity prices will rise on July 1 -- the first time in 23 years -- after the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved tariff adjustment plans submitted by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower).
The ministry convened a special committee to discuss two rate proposals yesterday morning and decided to give the green light to the slightly higher of the proposals, which will impose an average 5.8 percent increase.
The second proposal suggested an increase of 5.62 percent across all industries.
The selected plan proposes that after consumption of 330 kilowatt-hours per month, households will pay 3.12 percent more on average, while commercial users will pay an additional 4.99 percent.
Industrial users, meanwhile, will shoulder a new rate as high as 7.98 percent, regardless of the amount of power consumed.
Because those who use less than 330 kilowatt-hours per month will see no tariff change, around 65 percent of households and 35 percent of commercial users will not be affected, according to Taipower.
The new increments would add 0.116 of a percentage point to growth in the consumer price index and trim 0.081 percent from GDP, the nation's sole utility retailer said.
The new rates will be sent to Minister of Economic Affairs Morgan Hwang (
Despite the price rise, the state-owned Taipower said it was still set to post losses of around NT$11.3 billion (US$353 million) this year because of escalating fuel costs.
Next year's losses will probably fall between NT$12.5 billion and NT$17.5 billion, Taipower chairman Edward Chen (
Without the hikes, Taipower would have lost more than NT$23 billion this year, he added.
Taipower's net income dipped to NT$1.94 billion last year from NT$7.1 billion a year ago, while operating costs climbed 9.4 percent to NT$346.4 billion, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
RSS