Premier Chen Sean yesterday said that if the government decides to adjust the domestic electricity price upward, the decision should be seen as a move to resume a normal pricing mechanism.
Responding to media inquires about electricity prices on the sidelines of a legislative session, Chen said Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), a state-run utility and the country’s sole provider of electricity, has been required to absorb some of the rising input costs as part of the government’s efforts to stabilize domestic commodity prices.
This is a kind of special pricing mechanism that delays the need to raise electricity prices, even though costs to the supplier are growing, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Therefore, if there is now any move to raise the electricity price, “it shouldn’t be described as a price hike, but a resumption of the normal mechanism,” he said, indicating that the electricity price should be adjusted to a degree that reflects the input costs.
Speaking on whether the electricity price would be adjusted this year, as rumors have suggested, the premier said that Taipower’s price advisory committee, which falls under the supervision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, will handle the matter by following legal procedures.
Meanwhile, ministry officials declined to comment on local media reports that it plans to raise the electricity price twice this year, in May and October, while seeking to change the current fuel pricing mechanism, which stipulates that fuel prices be raised by half the amount of a crude oil price hike.
The issue of whether domestic electricity and fuel prices should be adjusted upward has triggered debates in the legislature, after Taipower projected a deficit of NT$75.5 billion (US$2.56 billion) this year, which it said could end up surpassing NT$100 billion amid rising fuel costs.
CPC Corp, Taiwan, the state-run petrochemical refiner that is also under the ministry’s supervision, is currently absorbing costs of NT$5.4 per liter of gasoline and NT$5.5 per liter of diesel, according to the ministry.
CPC Corp estimated the accumulated deficits in the first two months of this year would reach NT$12.5 billion because of rising international crude oil prices.
The yearly deficits could top NT$65 billion this year under the current domestic fuel pricing mechanism, CPC Corp said.
In a legislative forum yesterday, Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) questioned the operational efficiency of the state-run utilities, asking the Control Yuan to probe what she described as the “bad management” of Taipower and CPC Corp that has left the companies with large deficits.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) also urged the government to stabilize the economy first before making any moves to raise electricity and fuel prices.
“Do not let people think that prices for everything have increased since the new Cabinet took office,” he said.
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