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MOEA hikes electricity prices
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) says large industrial consumers will seetheir electricity rates riseby 15% from 1 July.
The announcement of the price hike follows a meeting of the ministry's electricity rate review committee. The price rise comes on the back of soaring global energy prices. The changes mean that some 22,000 large industrial users will have to pay 15% more for high-voltage and ultra-high voltage electricity. Across the board, electricity prices will rise by an average of 8.4% from 1 July.
However, the ministry says residential users consuming less than 1,000-kilowatt-hours per month will not see any change to their electricity rates and that accounts for some 97% of households while the rate hikes will also not apply to small businesses, low-usage consumers and schools at high school level and below.
The government's decision to raise electricity prices is being slammed by some business groups, which argue that the 15% increase for large industrial users is "excessive." The Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry says the 15% rise is "too much," and well above an anticipated 8% increase. Association chairman Larry Wei says the hike will undoubtedly drive up the manufacturing costs and industry-wide protests against the price rise are notbeing ruled out.
