Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) registered accumulated deficits of NT$83.2 billion (US$2.59 billion) in the first eight months of this year, while petroleum refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) incurred deficits of NT$59.1 billion, statistics released on Saturday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) showed.
Ministry officials estimated that the deficits of the two state-run companies would expand further by the end of the year because of cost increases in raw material such as coal and crude oil.
The companies have not increased their prices to levels that truly reflect surging costs, constrained by the government’s policy of maintaining stability in consumer prices, the ministry said.
Taipower has estimated that it will be faced with a deficit of up to NT$100 billion this year.
Although electricity prices were raised on July 1 and again last Wednesday under the Executive Yuan’s two-phase adjustment policy, the scale of the adjustments have been enough to cover only half the company’s cost increases, officials said.
Statistics show that all MOEA-owned enterprises, except Taipower and CPC, generated profits this year as of Aug. 31, including profits of NT$14.79 billion at Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖), NT$422 million at Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水), NT$2.02 billion for the shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) and NT$54 million at Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔).
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