TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) did not attend a negotiation on freezing electricity prices initiated by the Kuomintang (KMT) on Wednesday (April 24). The DPP's legislative caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu called for politics not to override professionalism.
The KMT had previously proposed a freeze on electricity prices during a legislative session, but the DPP did not send representatives to the negotiation. On March 29, the legislature dealt with the KMT and Taiwan People's Party's (TPP) proposals to halt the increase in electricity prices. Both proposals were sent to party caucus negotiations and entered a one-month freeze period.
Despite these proposals, the new electricity prices approved by the Electricity Rate Review Committee under The Electricity Act went into effect on April 1.
In response to public sentiment, Wu stated that the proposal to freeze electricity prices was handed over for negotiation according to legislative procedures. It first entered party caucus negotiations and also needed to enter cross-party negotiations convened by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu.
Wu believes that the recent increase in electricity prices is due to a surge in international coal prices following the Russo-Ukrainian War. She pointed out that Taiwan has long suffered from structural unfairness in electricity charges, which needs to be rectified. Large electricity users and manufacturers should bear higher electricity rates.
Wu urged the opposition to stop using party ideology to deal with the professionalism of electricity charges and insisted that negotiations should follow procedures.