https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hydro
Canadian sense “electricity” from the fact that hydroelectricity is the prevalent source of electricity in much of Canada and many electric companies have the word “Hydro” in their names.
Do australians say things like “hydro is so expensive” or “I got my hydro bill”?
And this is a pylon. I’ll die on this hill.
This usage can be heard in the U.S. too, although it’s not that common.
This one stops traffic and carries electricity, too
I assume this is the same topic as the rate increases over in another thread?:
I wish mine only went up 5% in Europe. More like 50% 
I wish we actually had meaningful hydro here like say British Columbia.
Maybe we can just make up fun names for our electeicity in Taiwan.
I propose sooty. My sooty bill just went up 5%.
We are lucky energy is so cheap here, but it has caused untold pollution, wasteful essential and a fairly entitled society thinking the government owes us this level of welfare
In Australia (Sydney) we pay AUD 0.36 /kWh (about TWD8) - after getting hit with a 35% rise a year ago. Word is that it may start dropping again this year, but I don’t trust them - too much Corporate Greed. Electricity goes through 3 hands to get to the door - Generator , Poles and Wires and Retailer, all of whom take their cut.
Gas is cheaper - AUD 0.04 / Mj.
But the mongrels also add in a Supply Charge which is 0.86 / day for Electricity and 0.61 / day for Gas - even if you use none !! My Last Accounts (spans 3 months) had the Service fee higher than the usage.
Unless we use nuclear, and while they are taming down on their anti nuclear rhetoric, the dominant energy source in Taiwan is still coal. So unfortunately, we are very much dependent on the price of coal.
The thing is, I heard (at least from people from France) that France has very high electricity prices, and they have the highest nuclear power use by %. Nuclear power plants are expensive to construct, but is cheap to operate (fuel accounting for something like 0.1% of their operating expense).
But I keep reading Taipower is constantly losing money and needs taxpayers to keep them from becoming insolvent. You really don’t want that to happen.
3600 kwh is actually a lot. When I had my flat my bi monthly usage was around 700 kwh.
The market price (P) of electricity is reached without any government interference, where the supply (S) and demand (D) curves intersect.
Now suppose the Taiwanese government provides a subsidy to push the price down from P to P’. This move drives a wedge between the supply and demand curves, and the horizontal distance between them is the electricity shortage.
That stuff about “supply and demand curves” is far more complex than depicted in A-level textbooks; it’s just not a useful model of reality because the real world is far more dynamic than that. Steve Keen has written some insightful stuff about this.
I don’t see any obvious reason why subsidy would cause an electricity ‘shortage’. As long as the cost of generation and supply is being met, it is irrelevant who, precisely, is meeting the cost.
In the dieting thread, we had a clear example of subsidy causing a glut of produce, far beyond what anyone would wish to consume, and something similar seems to be happening with power generation in Taiwan - people have no real incentive to conserve energy because there is no price signal to suggest a shortage, and the government is happy to provide an all-you-can-burn response to society’s wishes.
The “market price of electricity” is heavily influenced by government policy. Taiwan can keep its prices low not just because of subsidy; for example, Taiwan’s complete lack of interest in ‘green’ policies - most of which are not green at all - means that power generation is still well-matched to the 20th-century energy usage patterns which persist here.
Are they subsidizing food production, or are they giving consumers things similar to food stamps?
The US and Europe have very different subsidy regimes, but they both result in the same outcome - an excess of grain-based foods. It doesn’t seem to matter where the subsidy is injected as long as everyone along the value chain feels that they’re getting a piece of the pie. The energy sector is a lot flatter than the food industry, so it matters even less.
I think you’re conflating subsidy with central planning. When governments set the price of something, that’s when you have a mismatch between supply and demand.
The US subsidizes agriculture like crazy, and yes they definitely are driving food prices down. That has the opposite effect of giving people food stamps.
Does the Taiwanese government subsidize electricity generation, or does it do something like pay part of the bill?
I’ve forgotten the details, but I believe there are various means of support injected into several different parts of the industry, from generation through to transmission. I don’t think they subsidize actual consumers, but there is effectively a price support behind their price controls.
IIRC, though, the subsidy has been insufficient for a very long time, which means (I suspect) that some parts of the industry are up to their necks in debt and the infrastructure is probably creaking a bit. The price increases might be a result of a realisation that something’s got to give.
EDIT: yes, turns out Taipower funds the shortfall with debt.
If so you may see them slowly walk up over the next couple of years to try and prevent a sudden jump (5% is not much compared to other countries).
I’ve got no issues with the government surcharging businesses who power waste like stores with AC on all summer and the door open type waste. Dinging mom and pop who are barely hanging on isn’t a good idea nor is it good election material either to run on
I see a family mart at danshui mrt station that’s all open and it looks like it has ac. They seem to have problem with shoplifting too. Why don’t they enclose the whole store instead?
