Taiwan Power Company

Taipower was established on 1 May 1946. Its origins can be traced to 1919 when Taiwan Electric Power Co. was founded during Japanese colonial rule. In the subsequent decades, the Sun Moon Lake hydropower project was completed, and the company built a transmission line that connected northern Taiwan with the south.

In 1994, a measure which allowed independent power producers (IPP's) to provide up to 20 percent of Taiwan's electricity should have ended the monopoly. On 1 October 2012, Taipower allied with Taiwan Water Corporation to provide cross-agency integrated services called Water and Power Associated Service that accepts summary transactions between the two utilities. On 11 October 2012, the Economics Committee of the Legislative Yuan cut Taipower's budget for power purchases from IPP.

In July 2015, the Executive Yuan approved the amendments to the Electricity Act which were proposed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which will divide Taipower into two separate business groups in the next five to nine years: a power generation company and a power grid company. The measures were taken to improve efficiency within the company and to encourage positive competition within the industry.

On 20 October 2016, the Executive Yuan passed an amendments to the Electricity Act according to which Taipower will be divided into subsidiary companies in 6–9 years.

Taipower operates both of Taiwan's active nuclear power plants. It also operates coal power plants, but these are planned to be shut down in favor of natural gas turbines.

The company is expecting its first deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2023 as Taipower is moving away from coal for power generation.

The Taipower headquarters is housed in a 27-story building located in Zhongzheng District, Taipei. Completed in 1983, it was then the tallest building in Taiwan and the first building to surpass the 100 meter height.

Financials

As of 2019, Taipower is the only Taiwanese state-owned company that is unprofitable, reporting a loss of NT$29.7 billion (US$955 million) during the first six months of 2019, a minus of NT$5.7 billion compared to the same period of 2018. The company attributed this on rising fuel prices and various anti-pollution measures which increased the costs of energy production.