The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taipower have announced yesterday that the official operation of the fourth nuclear power plant will be postponed again, which is likely to add another 10 billion NT dollars to the already expanded budget.

However, it is not the only problem that weighs on Taipower. With the legislators opposing its plan to raise the electricity price this year, the company will be struggling to find ways to deal with its huge deficit.

Originally nuclear fuel rods were to be loaded by the end of last year as the commissioning of the fourth nuclear power plant did not go as scheduled.

This means that a transfer of the plant this year may not be possible.

An original budget of 169.7 billion NT$ has been increased to more than 270 billion NT$ with work falling behind schedule.

Furthermore, the company to install instrumentation and control systems could not get a license and cannot carry out work, creating big problems.

This has led the Ministry of Economic Affairs to be unable to comment on a timetable for its transfer.

The nuclear plant is a big headache for Taipower who is also contending with the problem of getting more money and losing more money.

Taipower predicts that losses could reach 48 billion NT$ this year, which is double the 21.1 billion the previous year.

The problem is the more energy Taiwan consumes, the more this company loses. Still, some legislators say Taipower cannot increase rates, as the company feels helpless that it may not be able to raise rates.

Even if rates can not accurately reflect the current cost of electricity, Taipower cannot escape its heavy losses as Taipower Chairman Chen Gui-ming said it would try to shore up losses.

Legislators still insist that rates can't go up leading Taipower to lament that rates have become a political issue.

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