Notes from central Taiwan: Please burst my bubble
The nation’s needs to raise its elecricity prices now to fully achieve its renewable energy goals
By Michael Turton / Contributing reporter
This week, the government announced that electricity prices would not be raised for the next six months. Taipower had proposed raising the rates a mere 0.07 percent. The reason given for the rejection of the new rate was that the tiny increase would not cover the administrative costs of making the adjustment. Moreover, Taipower is finally making money again after five years of no profits.
Those of us who from time to time pay attention to the government’s decisions to subsidize utility prices were a bit bemused by this strange logic. Surely, it’s reasonable to suggest that if the rate hike were too low, it can be increased. Higher electricity prices would likely be very good for the nation, though consumers (read: voters) would howl.