A poll released on Wednesday suggested that more than 80 percent of the public would be willing to pay higher electricity bills to help reduce the risks of climate disasters.
Lin Mu-xing (林木興), a research fellow at National Taiwan University’s Risk Society and Policy Research Center, at a news conference said that the study suggested 83 percent of the public would be happy to pay a higher rate per unit of power to help protect the environment and mitigate the risk of climate emergencies.
The current rate per kilowatt-hour is NT$2.60 (US$0.08). Lin said 30 percent of people said they would be willing to pay an additional fee of less than NT$1 per kilowatt-hour, with another 30 percent saying they would pay an extra NT$1 to NT$2 and 12.5 percent of people saying they would be willing to pay an extra NT$2 to NT$3.
Photo: CNA
Only 11.6 percent of respondents said they would not be willing to pay extra, Lin added.
Lin said that the data suggested 40 percent of those willing to pay between NT$3 and NT$3.5 per kilowatt-hour were aged 21 to 30, while a majority of those willing to pay NT$2.7 to NT$2.9 per kilowatt-hour were aged 50 or older.
Chou Kuei-tien (周桂田), director of the research center, said the findings also suggested most people were aware of the importance of transitioning to renewable energy and that the government should be outlining more specific plans as to how it plans to do this.
As well as having a clear understanding of the importance of renewable power, nearly 50 percent of the respondents thought it was important to have diversified energy sources to ensure resilience, Chou said.
Chou added that 52 percent of the respondents thought renewable energy should be developed more quickly, while only 6.9 percent believed the nation needs nuclear energy.
The government needs to increase the cost of electricity to be able to create a more resilient power grid, Chou said.
The survey was conducted by telephone from May 29 to June 25 on 1,075 people aged 18 or older.
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