AC replacement subsidy bolsteredBy Lin Ching-hua and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Ministry of Economic Affairs has allotted an additional NT$3.3 billion (US$106.82 million) for its program subsidizing purchases of energy-saving air-conditioners and refrigerators after demand outpaced this year’s budget, an official at the ministry said yesterday. The program’s NT$8 billion budget was originally intended to help families exchange their old appliances for ones with the Grade 1 energy label over four years beginning this year, the official said. A previous iteration of the appliance replacement scheme ran into the same problem in 2019, compelling the ministry to change the budget plan, they said. The NT$2 billion already spent was estimated to have replaced 640,000 appliances and probably saved up to 383 gigawatt-hours this year, they said. The new funding means that an additional 1.7 million of the energy-wasting alliances could be replaced, increasing total energy savings to more than 1 terawatt-hours this year, the official said.
