Households and businesses with low electricity consumption rates will be given special consideration when the second phase of the electricity price hike takes effect in October, according to the Executive Yuan.
The government is considering excluding low-consumption households and small businesses from the rate hike, or allowing only a slight increase for them, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) said on Wednesday.
Chen made the remarks after Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said in an interview on UDN TV on Tuesday that a reasonable rate increase should be implemented, since state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has kept its rates at a relatively low level that does not reflect its costs.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The government is likely to decide on a slight increase in average power rates, after reviewing the power consumption patterns of residential units, small businesses and industries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said.
The economy, people’s livelihoods and Taipower’s finances will also be taken into account, the ministry said.
Taipower spokesman Roger Lee (李鴻洲) said the company has not finalized a rate hike plan because it has not been given a clear directive to do so. However, such a plan is expected to be finalized by the end of the month.
Lee said all nine independent producers of electricity — Formosa Plastics Group’s Mailiao Power Corp, Taiwan Cement’s Hoping Power Co and seven private power firms — have agreed to revise their contracts with Taipower to reduce their prices. The move will save Taipower NT$1.54 billion (US$51.4 million) a year, he said.
Taipower has lost NT$35.2 billion in the first seven months of this year, which brought its cumulative losses to NT$228.8 billion.
However, with the higher summer electricity prices, which help limit consumption, Taipower earned NT$600 million in July.
The ministry began a three-phase rate hike plan in June last year. The first phase, which accounted for 40 percent of the total planned increase, took effect that month.
The second phase, which is set for October, will involve raising average electricity prices by 9.64 percent: industry rates will go up by 11.49 percent, commercial rates by 10.04 percent and household rates by 4.57 percent, the ministry said.
According to the ministry’s plan, about two-thirds of households and one-third of small businesses that use less than 330kWh of electricity per month would not be affected by the next price hike.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard