The Executive Yuan yesterday approved an additional NT$100 billion (US$3.08 billion) for the fiscal 2024 budget to subsidize Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) for sustaining severe losses in complying with government policies.
The proposal has been forwarded to the Legislative Yuan for ratification.
Without subsidies or increasing prices, Taipower would stand to lose NT$210 billion this year, Taipower vice president Wang Jenn-yeong (王振勇) said.
Photo: Taipei Times
However, the rate hike that went into effect on April 1, the Executive Yuan’s subsidy and falling fuel prices mean the company can reduce its losses to just NT$10 billion, Wang added.
The price adjustment saw a 3 to 5 percent increase for most households and an increase of up to 25 percent for consumers of 500 gigawatt-hours or more per month.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said that if the additional funding is approved, fiscal 2024 would see total expenditure of NT$2.95 trillion, while expected income stands at NT$2.72 trillion.
The government would have to pay NT$11.5 billion in debt in addition to the NT$22.67 billion deficit for a NT$34.17 billion loss, the DGBAS said.
The government plans to raise NT$25.71 billion by issuing bonds and also dip into the fiscal 2022 surplus to compensate for the deficit, it added.
In response to the legislature earlier this week passing a non-binding motion to freeze electricity prices, Executive Yuan spokesman Lin Tzu-lun (林子倫) quoted Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) as saying that the legislative and executive branches should observe their respective boundaries.
Chen said the price hike resulted from discussions observing Article 49 of the Electricity Act (電業法) and the government is legally bound to implement the results of such talks.
Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan yesterday also approved a bill that would offer a NT$75,000 Lunar New Year bonus for borough and village wardens.
The elected positions currently do not receive a salary or annual bonus, but are offered a NT$50,000 monthly subsidy from their governing municipality.
The amendment to the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Borough and Village Wardens (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例) would mean an additional NT$580 million allocated for the elected offices, the Ministry of the Interior said.
In addition, the amendment would raise subsidies for city and county councilors to hire assistants to NT$300,000 from NT$240,000 per month for city councilors and to NT$140,000 from NT$80,000 per month for county councilors.
It would also limit the number of assistants councilors can hire, with city councilors having at most seven and county councilors having at most three.
Monthly service payouts to village and borough wardens in indigenous areas would also be raised to NT$55,000 from NT$50,000.
Speaking to legislators in the morning, Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said there were no political or personal considerations to the amendments.
Since the duties of village and borough wardens have changed to approaching a full-time job and opinions differed greatly on the compensation, the Executive Yuan decided that the Lunar New Year bonus was the most “balanced” method.
Lin emphasized that the bonus counts as a “gratuity,” not a salary.
If the amendment clears all legislative hurdles, it could be distributed next year, he said.
Additional reporting by Lee Wen-hsi
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS