The Legislative Yuan yesterday failed to reach a decision on whether power rate hikes next month should be suspended after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus raised a motion to put the issue to cross-caucus negotiations.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Friday last week announced that electricity rates would increase by 3 to 25 percent from Monday next week to September.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucuses on Tuesday raised separate motions to freeze the rate hike and to discuss the matter yesterday.
Photo: CNA
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has repeatedly reassured the public that Taiwan would not suffer from a power shortage and that the government would not hike prices, yet the nation has seen multiple price increases over the past few years, KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) said yesterday.
The ministry’s decision to raise power rates next month would be the most significant, as it is expected to affect 13.4 million households nationwide and could presage another swell in commodity prices, he said.
The public is shouldering the cost of the DPP government’s insistence on pursuing wrong-minded power policies, and the KMT is resolved to stymie the government’s unilateral decisions with a proposal to freeze rate hikes and a motion to amend the Electricity Act (電業法), giving the legislature power to ratify rate hikes, he said.
TPP Legislator Chane Chi-kai (張啟楷) said that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) used to be a model for state-owned businesses, but a lack of reforms over the years has resulted in the company’s ballooning debt burden, which should not be passed on to consumers through tariff hikes.
The TPP caucus demanded that Taipower submit a comprehensive report to the legislature’s Economics Committee on the company’s plans to improve its financial situation, and that all attempts to raise prices be relegated to the back burner before the report is completed, he said.
DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that suspending the planned hikes now would be equivalent to the public subsidizing others who use more power.
“That is even more unreasonable,” Hung said.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that legislative powers should not overlap or supersede administrative powers, adding that the opposition parties’ proposals could “never be accepted.”
Accepting such demands would hamstring the sustainable operations of Taipower, Wu said, adding that the DPP caucus’ proposal to put the issue to cross-caucus negotiations would prevent unreasonable proposals from taking effect immediately.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he