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.”
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
The founder of Chinese property giant Evergrande Group (恆大集團) has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and bribery, a court said yesterday, the latest blow for what was once the country’s leading developer. Evergrande’s rise was propelled by decades of rapid urbanization and rising living standards, but in 2020, its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing and speculation. The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors. Founder Xu Jiayin (許家印), 67, known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, was reportedly held by police in 2023, with Evergrande saying he had been subjected to
RSS