To ease the financial burden on people staying at home due to the level 3 COVID-19 alert, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have asked state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to postpone its summer electricity rate hike.
The rate hike runs from June through September to encourage people to reduce use of electric appliances and air-conditioners during peak summer demand, but the public is facing a different situation this year, DPP caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) told an online news conference yesterday.
“Right now, Taiwan is under level 3 alert restrictions. Most people are staying at home and so use of electricity will go up. We demand that Taipower not apply the usual higher rates for the summer months,” Lo said.
“This should take effect starting this month,” he added.
“We will also ask the Ministry of Economic Affairs to shelve the summer rate hike for June, as most people have been hurt economically under the level 3 measures. This policy could help ease expenditure for about 10 million households,” he said.
Most households’ electricity bills increase 13 to 27 percent on average in summer, government data show.
DPP lawmakers also asked the Executive Yuan and ministry to provide more relief for the agriculture, food, hospitality and service sectors, which have been hit hard by the outbreak.
“This year many ... jobs were lost due to the surge in domestic infections and the imposed restrictions. More people are working part-time, under temporary contracts or other shortened work conditions. [They] are in need of economic relief,” DPP Legislator Huang Shih-chieh (黃世杰) said.
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