Government officials said yesterday at a national conference that water prices are too low and should be raised to meet water companies' costs in maintaining water-supply facilities.
"It is necessary to raise water prices to NT$20 per cubic meter," Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (
"The hike in water fees can help prevent water waste by consumers," Lin said.
Currently, water fees are NT$7 to NT$9 per cubic meter. The rates have been frozen at the current level for nine years. The cost of processing water for household use, however, is NT$22 per cubic meter.
But Lin yesterday declined to specify when the government will raise water prices. He simply said the government has no plans for such a move in the near future. He didn't elaborate.
Although it is unknown when water prices will be changed, it is clear that the low price of water is unsustainable and has resulted in financial difficulties for the two major water suppliers in the nation.
According to government figures, Taiwan Water Supply Corp (自來水公司) and the Taipei Water Department (台北自來水事業處) saw their sales drop 1.73 percent and 3.05 percent last year, respectively, from the previous year's sales.
Because of the two companies' lack of funds, they cannot afford to repair old or worn water pipes that cause losses of 800 million tonnes of water each year. This is equivalent to two Feitsui Reservoirs annually, according to a recent Ministry of Economic Affairs report.
To reduce the water-leakage rate, Taiwan Water Supply Corp in March reported to the government that it planned to spend NT$3.5 billion to refurbish 670km of water pipe this year. In the past, the company allocated NT$200 million each year on pipe reconstruction, said Joseph Lyu (
The financial losses of the water companies, along with worsening water shortages in recent years, have forced the government to reconsider raising water fees.
"We'll propose a concrete measure on water-fee adjustment next year," said deputy director of Water Resources Agency Chen Shen-hsien (
Aside from the general price-hike plan, in March the agency proposed raising water fees for heavy users during dry periods, usually from November to April, from NT$0.5 to NT$1.5 per cubic meter.
If the proposal is passed, the companies will increase income by 30 percent to 40 percent during the dry season, Chen said.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia Corp’s most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies and kept out of China and other countries, US President Donald Trump said. During an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes program and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS, echoing remarks made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington
RSS