Following the increase in oil prices, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, ¥xÆW¹q¤O¤½¥q) announced it would raise the cost of electricity to mitigate heavy losses and reflect actual costs.  Taipower proposal to drastically hike electricity prices.......after more than one month...the electricity rate plan changed!!Taipower originally planned to raise electricity rates by nearly 26 percent for households in the main bracket for power consumption, at 330 units to 500 units, which accounts for 67 percent of household users. For these households, the rate would rise NT$0.84 per unit from NT$3.27 per unit, based on Taipower’s origina plan. Heavy household users, manufacturers and store owners could expect even bigger price hikes. To reflect a rise in raw material prices, Taipower planned to raise the electricity price for industrial users by about 60 percent, for power consumed at night or during off-peak hours, once their bill exceeded a certain level.Under the new plan, the electricity rate hikes will be executed in three stages, with the first one being implemented on June 10 and the second one on Dec. 10. A date has not been set for the third stage.The President Ma administration had no choice but to raise tariffs after being “irrationally frozen” for years, resulting in Taipower accumulating billions in losses.  The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), meanwhile, reiterated that electricity rates should not be raised at this moment. ... (more)