DPP Gov’t Plans to Dismember Taiwan Power Company into Four Parts
2016/06/06
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DPP Gov’t Plans to Dismember Taiwan Power Company into Four Parts
Sources: All Taipei newspapers
June 6, 2016
A high-ranking official in the Tsai Ing-wen administration stated on June 4 that since the liberalization of the electric power industry was one of President Tsai Ing-wen’s campaign planks, the government would amend the Electricity Industry Act (電業法) to dismember Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) and introduce a bill titled “Nuclear-Free Homeland Act (非核家園法)” to legalize the goal of phasing out all nuclear power plants before 2025. Taipower has been Taiwan’s major power provider for seven decades.
The official noted that the DPP legislative caucus had already proposed an amendment bill last February, demanding that Taipower complete the separation of power plants and power grids within one year and stop the operations of three nuclear power plants by 2025.
The Executive Yuan (Cabinet) will also instruct the Economics Ministry to introduce the Executive branch’s version on amending the Electricity Industry Act before January 2017.
According to the DPP’s planning, the initial plan is to break Taiwan’s electric power industry, i.e., Taipower, into four parts: generation, transmission, distribution and sales. On the part of generation, the government plans to introduce a new type of energy. Taipower will mainly be responsible for transmission and distribution as both are a part of the nation’s infrastructure projects. The sale of electricity power will focus on liberalization of the market.
DPP legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清), a co-convener of the Legislative Economics Committee, stated that the DPP also planned to set up a committee under the Economics Ministry to supervise electricity distribution, management, and coordination of the electric power industry. He explained that the committee would consist of the competent government agency, consumers’ associations, experts and electric power firms to maintain fairness in the transmission and distribution of electric power.
However, an official from Taipower expressed the hope that the restructure of Taiwan’s electric power industry would be implemented with a grace period as it involved Taipower’s assets re-evaluations, debts, and the job guarantee of employees. This official stated that a strong and independent oversight committee was definitely needed to avoid a situation in which no agency would take responsibility for any power shortages in the future. “This cannot be completed in merely one year,” concluded the Taipower official.
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