Electricity rates are to remain unchanged at an average of NT$2.6253 per kilowatt-hour over the next six months, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday.
The decision came after a meeting of its electricity price review committee on Friday, which considered maintaining stability of electricity prices amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The committee has not adjusted electricity rates since September 2018, making this the longest price freeze on record in Taiwan, ministry data showed.
Photo: CNA
While Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) suggested a slight rate increase of 0.07 percent, the committee decided to keep prices unchanged for the second and third quarters, the ministry said.
“Fuel costs are the main factor affecting electricity rates,” it said in a statement. “Recently, not only have international crude oil prices gradually rebounded, but coal prices have also risen.”
“However, it is still necessary to continue to monitor the containment of COVID-19 globally and the recovery of overall demand before determining whether the increase in fuel prices is a long-term trend,” it added.
The ministry said that the committee had pointed out that an adjustment to the nation’s energy structure would increase the cost of generating electricity, while electricity rates that adequately reflect the adjustment would help promote energy-saving policies.
The committee decided not to adjust the rates because, while the rate hike proposed by Taipower was not large, the administrative work required to enforce the increase could cost more than the 0.07 percent adjustment, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) told a news conference.
The committee would consider the effects of an adjustment to the nation’s power-generation structure on electricity rates at its next review meeting in September, when it would set the rates for the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year, Tseng said.
There is also no need to raise rates, as Taipower posted its first profit in five years in the first quarter, he said.
Taipower posted a profit of NT$8 billion (US$279.7 million) in the January-to-March period, thanks to lower power-generation costs, Tseng said, adding that the state-run company reported NT$26.1 billion in profit for the whole of last year.
Separately, the problem of a container vessel blocking the Suez Canal would not disrupt the nation’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, the Bureau of Energy said on Friday.
The bureau said that Taiwan has signed long-term LNG contracts with several countries, including Australia, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Qatar and the US.
As LNG ships from those countries do not pass through the Suez Canal on their way to Taiwan, the incident would not affect the nation’s LNG imports, the bureau said.
“Last year, the nation’s LNG imports came from 13 countries, and the shipping routes from the sources differed,” the bureau said. “In the event of an emergency where imports are blocked, Taiwan can consult other long-term gas sources to procure and dispatch LNG.”
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
RSS