The average electricity rate would stay unchanged at NT$3.78 per kilowatt-hour for the next six months, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) told a news conference after the electricity price review committee wrapped up its meeting. The committee also aimed to help safeguard the competitiveness of local industries by keeping electricity cost unchanged, he said. Taipower still has some leeway to absorb increases in power generation costs, as the state-run utility company reported profit of NT$72.9 billion (US$2.29 billion) last year, Lai said. If the war ends within three months, the Ministry of Economic Affairs expects there to be little chance that global prices in October would be much higher, he said. “Inflation is highly correlated to electricity prices, and inflation is difficult to reverse once it goes up,” Hsu said.
