The health and welfare surcharge on tobacco products will be increased from NT$10 per pack to NT$20 per pack starting today.
Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁), director of the Bureau of Health Promotion said retail stores are allowed to sell off their existing cigarette stocks without asking customers to pay the extra NT$10 surcharge.
The surcharge increase will raise the average per-pack price for cigarettes to between NT$55 and NT$70, depending on the brand.
According to an estimate by Chao, the new measure is expected to boost annual revenues from the health and welfare surcharge from NT$20 billion (US$615 million) to between NT$32 billion and NT$36 billion.
Chao said the DOH would use 4 percent, or NT$1.39 billion, of the revenues from the surcharge as subsidies to help 470,000 people obtain national health insurance. The Bureau of National Health Insurance will receive 70 percent of the surcharge revenues and will spend NT$10 billion to meet its financial shortfall, and the rest in various areas such as cancer prevention, raising the standards of medical services and treatment of rare diseases.
Meanwhile, the “high-season” summer rates policy adopted by the Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) will also take effect starting today.
On average, a typical local family uses around 421 kwh per month during the summer, which translates to an additional NT$102 in electricity bills per month.
According to the state-owned company, the new policy is aimed at encouraging the public to conserve energy during the four months between this month and September.
Under the new rates, households using between 110 kilowatt hours (kwh) and 330kwh per month will be charged at NT$3.02 per kwh (up from NT$2.68 in other seasons). They will be charged NT$4.05 per kwh (up from NT$3.27 in other seasons) if electricity usage is between 331kwh and 500kwh per month.
Those using between 501kwh and 700kwh per month will be charged at NT$4.51 per kwh (up from NT$3.55), while any usage higher than 701kwh per month will be charged by NT$5.1 per kwh (up from NT$3.97).
But consumers that use less than 110kwh per month will still pay NT$2.1 per kwh.
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