Energy Bureau Plans to Institute Regressive Power Rates

Taipei, May 26, 2008 (CENS)--In an all-out effort to conserve energy and cut carbon emission, the Bureau of Energy, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), plans to institute a regressive power-rate system, giving discounts to the power bills of households or enterprises whose monthly power consumption remains flat or even drops.

In addition to the measure, to be implemented with the upcoming power-rate hikes in July, the Bureau of Energy has also formulated seven major measures for the aforementioned effort, including the pushing of "sunshine communities" with expanded subsidies, the replacement of incandescent bulbs, and zero growth for power consumption by government agencies.

The regressive power rates will supplement the existing progressive power rates in encouraging power conservation but the actual amounts of discounts are still under calculation, according to Yeh Ching, director general of the Bureau of Energy.

Yeh Ching noted that the seven measures also include the pushing of commercial-zone energy conservation, encouraging the practice of setting the temperatures of air conditioners at 26-28 Celsius, the pushing of LED (light emission diode) lighting, and the offering of energy-technology services.

Under the "sunshine communities" program, the government will offer NT$150,000 per kWp (kilowatt, peak) of subsidy to the private sector for the institution of photovoltaic power-generating systems and NT$300,000 per kWp to municipal governments for the installation of public photovoltaic public facilities. In addition, NT$5,000 per kWp of subsidy will be available for "sunshine communities," to be installed via joint efforts of municipal governments and community residents or developers. The subsidies have been open to applications now.

The "sunshine communities" must accommodate at least 15 buildings or 120 households, furnished with photovoltaic power-generation systems totaling 40 kWp in capacity to achieve sufficient power self-supply. Up to now, the Tainan county government has planned to install a "sunshine community" in the Southern Taiwan Science Park.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Energy has banned the use of incandescent bulbs at all public units. It plans to carry out a series of campaigns for discarding incandescent bulbs on the eve of the Global Environmental Protection Day on July 5 and will publicize the energy-efficiency criteria for light bulbs by the end of the year, in the hope of instituting comprehensive ban on the production and sale of incandescent bulbs by 2012.