The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday unveiled an adjusted version of its second phase of electricity rate increases, which it said would not affect more than 80 percent of households and small businesses.
The ministry’s new plan, scheduled to take effect in October, showed that 9.85 million households — or 85.7 percent of the nation’s 11.5 million households using less than 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month — would not be affected by the rate increase.
Electricity rates are to stay flat for about 710,000 small businesses — which accounts for 80.2 percent of the total — that consume 700kWh or less a month.
Photo: CNA
“The new plan will be able to reflect soaring energy costs, while also easing the burden on the public and lowering the impact on local industries,” Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) told a press conference.
Under the ministry’s plan, power rates will rise by between NT$47 and NT$94 a month for 910,000 households that consume between 50kWh and 700kWh. Households consuming between 701kWh and 1,000kWh per month will see their electricity bills increase by between NT$147 and NT$253 per month.
The plan also increases a bracket for households that consume more than 1,000kWh a month, which will see their electricity rates rise by between 7 and 10 percent.
For small businesses, only 20 percent, or 180,000 businesses, of the total consuming more than 1,500kWh per month will see their electricity bills rise, by an average of NT$358 a month.
Local industries and large-scale businesses will bear the brunt, with rate hikes ranging from 10.4 to 12.2 percent under the ministry’s plan, compared with a range of 11.6 percent to 13.6 percent in the ministry’s original proposal.
Overall, the average level of the second phase of power rate hikes was lowered to 8.49 percent, from 9.64 percent in the original plan.
The new plan will lower the annual revenues of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) by between NT$6.8 billion and NT$7 billion (US$226.2 million and US$232.9 million) from the previous forecast, Duh said.
However, the second phase of rate hikes could still reduce the company’s accumulated losses by the end of this year to NT$237.2 billion, compared with losses of NT$249.1 billion without the rate hike plan, Taipower data showed.
The new plan for electricity rate hikes will also limit the impact on the nation’s economy and consumer prices. Taiwan’s GDP would have been 0.02 percentage points lower this year and 0.06 percentage points lower next year under the original version, with annual growth in the consumer price index (CPI) rising by 0.06 percentage points and 0.18 percentage points respectively, statistics showed.
Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) said the new plan does not completely reflect rising energy costs over the past few years, so Taipower will continue its strategies to improve its performance and curb its losses.
Lawmakers across party lines yesterday spoke out against the ministry’s rate-increase schemes.
Earlier yesterday morning, at a meeting with the ministry held at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters, the KMT caucus urged the Executive Yuan to strengthen its communication with the legislature before finalizing its rate adjustment plan.
“According to the ministry’s proposed plan, 85 percent of people will not be affected by the new rate hikes. However, the general public and small business owners are still concerned about the plan,” KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said after the meeting, which was attended by Chang and Taipower chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球).
“The Executive Yuan needs to decide how to explain the price hike to legislators and the public,” Lai said.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) accused the ministry and the Executive Yuan of breaking a promise to not raise electricity rates again after last year’s price adjustment.
“If the new price adjustment plan will not affect 85 percent of people, why bother increasing rates at all? Taipower should reflect upon its operations before putting such a burden on the public,” she said.
KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) said the legislature will examine Taipower’s budget closely to help the public oversee the company’s performance.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused the company of announcing rate rises without consulting the legislature, and without enacting necessary corporate reforms.
The ministry has been playing a “numbers game,” wherein all Taipower did was find excuses for its lack of efficiency and losses, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said.
DPP headquarters held the same view, with spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) saying that the administration should not implement the new pricing scheme and harm economic growth when it is clueless about how to lift the sluggish economy.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who promised to reform Taipower and CPC Corp, Taiwan (中油) in June last year, and Taipower, which promised that price adjustment proposals would first be sent to the Legislative Yuan, betrayed their pledges, Lin added.
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
The US will continue its friendly approach toward Taiwan in the next US administration and Taiwan would work to prevent China “making trouble” during the transition, a senior Taiwanese security official said yesterday. Former US president Donald Trump, the Republican candidate who claimed victory in Tuesday’s vote against US Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party, made comments on the campaign trail that Taiwan should pay to be protected and also accused the nation of “stealing” American semiconductor business. Taiwan has faced military pressure from Beijing over the past five years, including four major rounds of war games in the past