《TAIPEI TIMES》 Higher summer electricity rates start tomorrow

PRICES: Households that use more than 120kWh a month would be charged 13 to 27% more based on their usage, with those that use more than 1,000kWh charged the most

/ Staff writer, with CNA

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Summer electricity rates that could be up to 27 percent higher than normal are to take effect tomorrow until Sept. 30, although more than 3.6 million households should not be affected by the steeper costs, state-run Taiwan Power Co （Taipower, 台電） said yesterday.

The summer rate mechanism was first implemented in 1989 to encourage consumers to conserve electricity during peak usage months, it said.

The average household consumed 443 kilowatt-hours （kWh） each month during summer last year, compared with 312kWh per month during other seasons, Taipower data showed.

The average household electricity bill was NT$459 higher per month from June to September last year than in other months, with NT$335 — 74.6 percent — a result of higher power consumption and NT$124 due to the higher rates, Taipower said.

Taiwanese pay for electricity based on a six-level progressive tariff model, which charges more per kilowatt-hour the more power a household uses, regardless of the season.

Under the model, households pay the standard base level of NT$1.63 per kilowatt-hour for the first 120kWh of power used during the summer. Last year, 3.68 million households fell into this category.

Households that consume more than 120kWh a month are to be charged an additional 13 to 27 percent of the base rate under the progressive rate system, with households using more than 1,000kWh a month subject to the maximum rate.

Only 2.8 percent of households used more than 1,000kWh a month last year.

Households that consume 121kWh to 330kWh per month, of which there were 4.97 million last year, are to pay an additional NT$0.28 per kilowatt-hour — 13 percent more — over the standard NT$2.15 per kilowatt-hour rate during the summer, Taipower said.

Households that use 331kWh to 550kWh a month are to pay a 22 percent premium for electricity during the summer, while households consuming 501kWh to 700kWh and 701kWh to 1,000kWh of power a month are to pay 22 percent and 23 percent more respectively.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES