About 83 percent of Taiwanese are willing to pay more for electricity to minimize losses from future climate disasters, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center at National Taiwan University said on Wednesday.
The current electricity price is about NT$2.6 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), postdoctoral fellow Forrest Lin (林木興) told a news conference in Taipei presenting the results of the center’s annual survey on Taiwan’s energy transition.
Of those willing to pay more, about 60 percent supported an increase of less than NT$2 per kWh, while 12.5 percent supported paying NT$2 to NT$3 more, he said.
Photo: CNA
Only 11.6 percent were not willing to pay more, he added.
Younger people were the most willing, with 40 percent of those who would pay NT$3 to NT$3.5 per kWh aged between 21 and 30, Lin said.
Those aged 50 or over were most likely to accept prices only slightly above the current rate at NT$2.7 to NT$2.9, showing that they are willing, but not particularly motivated, he said.
In addition, 20.4 percent said they own an electric vehicle, he added.
About 70 percent of respondents said they would pay more to switch to renewable sources, center director Chou Kuei-tien (周桂田) said, urging the government to be more systematized and detailed in its promotion of renewable energy.
“Taiwan’s electricity is not green enough,” Chou said.
Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of respondents agreed that climate disasters are becoming more unusual and severe, and said they have personally felt their effects, Graduate Institute of National Development assistant professor Lin Jiun-da (林竣達) said.
About 19.3 percent said they have sustained losses due to climate events, 15.6 percent of whom have lost more than NT$400,000, he added.
Only about 68.8 percent said they trust government information on climate disasters, while 70 percent want the government to formulate better policies on responding to events such as severe temperatures, heavy rains and water shortages, National Chengchi University Department of Public Administration professor Tu Wen-ling (杜文苓) said.
The survey conducted between May and last month collected responses from 775 landline and 300 cellphone users aged 18 and over across Taiwan, excluding Kinmen and Lienchiang counties.
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