Premier Lin Chuan (林全) is being “juvenile” in asking all government agencies to turn off their air conditioners in the early afternoon as part of his energy-saving policies, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) opposition to nuclear energy would put the nation’s power supply at risk.
The “nuclear-free home” policy championed by the DPP government has proven unattainable, as power rationing is expected to be imposed soon given Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) low power reserves, KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) said.
KMT caucus vice secretary-general Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) said that Lin’s order that agencies turn off air conditioning from 1pm to 3pm during the summer has drawn mounting criticism from civil servants, which they said felt like “food in a steamer.”
“Like juveniles, Lin and his Cabinet appear to be proud of their ineffective energy-saving policy,” Wang said.
When the DPP was in opposition, it used to accuse Taipower of making false statements about the nation facing a potential power shortage, but now even DPP supporters, such as Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), has expressed concern over a possible shortfall in the nation’s electricity supply, Wang said.
The DPP’s conflicting remarks over the nation’s energy supply has left the public with no choice but to “grudgingly” take measures to conserve electricity, she said.
“President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration excels at using grand, but hollow language like hipsters do, and the Executive Yuan order that agencies turn off air conditioners in the afternoon is no different,” KMT Legislator John Wu (吳志揚) said.
KMT caucus vice secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said he believed power would be rationed in some regions as soon as next week, with the Tsai administration likely breaking its promise that there would be no power rationing this year.
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