By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Having a monopoly on local liquefied natural gas (LNG) allows CPC Corp, Taiwan to reap extravagant profits and is likely a factor in electricity prices, a lawmaker said yesterday.
“CPC should disclose all the documents related to its overseas LNG purchases and domestic sales amid the hotly debated controversy over recent hikes of fuel and electricity prices,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told a press conference.
Average net profit rates of CPC’s LNG for household consumption in the past five years were 20.59 percent, Lin said.
The monopoly appeared to have an impact on the electricity rates because Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) will spend 54 percent of its NT$294.8 billion (US$10 billion) of fossil fuel purchases this year on LNG.
“That is why I demand CPC disclose its purchase and sales documents. Because Taipower claimed it’s been in the red and would have to raise prices to avoid bankruptcy,” Lin said.
CPC also sold LNG to independent power producers (IPPs), which generate power and sell it back to Taipower at higher rates, increasing the cost and the selling price of those IPPs.