Nine local independent power producers were found guilty of concerted practices by the Supreme Administrative Court on Monday as it overruled previous rulings in a drawn-out fair-trade case.
The court sided with the Fair Trade Commission, saying in its verdict that the joint action of the power firms — which account for 76 percent of state-owned Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower, 台電) outsourced electricity — had prohibited normal market competition, disrupting supply and demand.
The nine firms, which have provided electricity to Taipower since 1995 to help ensure stable supply, were jointly fined NT$6.32 billion (US$212.74 million at the current exchange rate) by