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Golden opportunity for sustainability
Professor & Chair, Department of Political Science & Institute of Political Econmy.
Director, Research Center for Science & Technology Governance
 The recent rise in the price of petroleum-based fuels has both indirectly and directly led to fluctuations in retail prices, and the public is feeling the effects.
Following hot on the heels of price hikes for gasoline and diesel products, the government last week announced that the price of electricity would go up before President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration for a second term on May 20. The government says the price of electricity must be increased to make it correspond with the cost of production. The electricity price increase will have a heavier impact on the public than the fuel price rises.
Some experts say that Taiwan’s fuel and electricity prices have been intentionally kept at the same level for a long time. They say that by suppressing price hikes, the government has been using taxpayers’ money to subsidize refiners and power consumers, and that this is socially unjust.
Petroleum-based fuel products and electricity are difficult sources of energy to obtain. In Taiwan, these resources are completely controlled by state-owned enterprises, so the government has a duty to manage them in a reasonable way, and to be prepared to respond to any energy crisis that might occur.
The double impact of fuel and electricity price rises may affect the way people use these resources. Hopefully, the price rises will prompt the development of sustainable energy policies. Soon after the price hikes were announced, people started talking about adjusting policy to save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. A possible effect of this new policy drive could be lower consumption of fuel and electricity and major changes in people’s behavior. For example, the fuel price rise has already caused a sharp increase in the number of people using the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transport System.
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