The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March approved a proposal to raise prices depending on the type of user and range of power consumption.
The plan called for a 3 to 5 percent increase for most households, and a hike of up to 25 percent for consumers of 500 gigawatt-hours or more per month.
The latter group mainly comprises chipmakers, data centers and telecom operators.
The price hikes took effect in April.
The Energy Administration said in a news release that adjusting electricity rates is governed by Article 49 of the Electricity Act (電業法).
This law and associated regulations state that an electricity price committee should be convened twice a year to determine prices based on a stipulated formula, the agency said, adding that the legislature approved the measures nine years ago.
The agency urged the public to support the price adjustments by state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) in light of soaring global energy costs after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Last year, Taipower spent NT$600 billion (US$18.44 billion) on importing hydrocarbons, double what it spent before the start of the conflict, it said.
Industrial electricity prices from 2020 to last year increased 160 percent in France and 87 percent in South Korea, two countries mainly dependent on nuclear power, the agency said.
Electricity prices for households and small businesses — the best indicators of the impact of price changes on the public — increased 7.1 percent and 12.2 percent during the same period, it said.
Low electricity prices meant Taipower was operating at a loss, and had to be subsidized by taxes, it said.
In effect, the average Taiwanese taxpayer is subsidizing heavy power consumers, it added.
Taipower is forecast to record losses of NT$382.6 billion if electricity rates are not increased this year, it said.
Executive Yuan spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said the Cabinet “expresses its disapproval of the legislature’s passage of the resolution and emphasizes that ensuring stable electricity supply should not be a partisan issue.”
The price adjustments were made in accordance with the Electricity Act, which requires the government to implement the energy price committee’s decision on rate adjustments, he said.
“As branches of the government, the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan should, based on the Constitution, stay within their stipulated prerogatives and responsibilities,” Lin said.
World energy prices have soared due to the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, creating immense fiscal pressure on Taipower, Lin said.
Rising power rates are unavoidable if Taipower is to be a commercially viable enterprise, he said.
The KMT caucus said in a statement that the resolution was “the first step and a gunshot” against the government’s energy policy from Taiwanese.
The government has over the past few years “provided NT$450 billion in subsidies to Taipower, but the company remains on the brink while green energy companies are enjoying a glut,” it said.
The KMT will make further demands of the current and future administration to provide supplementary measures for the nation’s energy structure, extend the life of certain power plants and provide a strategy for Taipower’s operations, it said.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS