Taipower head asked to stay on after offering to quit over power outages

Taipei, April 21 (CNA) Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) President Wang Yao-ting (王耀庭) announced his resignation Saturday following a recent spate of power outages, but Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) has asked him to remain in his post.

Wang said in a letter Saturday that he will resign to take responsibility for a string of power outages affecting several parts of Taoyuan over the past few days and a tight power supply on April 15 due to generator trips.

He said that in response to recent misgivings over the stability of Taipower's supply of electricity, which has caused social disturbance, he was personally apologizing to people across the country and was submitting his resignation as an expression of his responsibility.

The premier called Wang and left him a text message to persuade him to continue in his position, according to Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), which supervises Taipower, said Saturday it was working hard to convince Wang to stay, and the Taipower Labor Union expressed strong support for Wang to retain his position.

Union President Wu Yu-pin (吳有彬) defended Taipower in a statement Saturday.

He said over 350,000 households and businesses experienced power outages after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County on April 3, but 90 percent of them had their power restored within two hours after 6,000 Taipower workers made rush repairs in the affected areas.

That rapid restoration of electricity was due to Taipower's proper dispatching, which prevented the power supply system from completely collapsing and causing power disruptions, Wu wrote.

He said the union strongly supported keeping Wang in his post, and urged the government not to let Wang step down because of the recent power outages.

Opposition Kuomintang Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) called Wang a "scapegoat" for the frequent power outages, which she said stemmed from the government's bad energy policy.

Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄), another KMT lawmaker, said Wang should stay on to handle the aftermath of the power failure problem.

Instead, Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花) and Deputy Economics Minister Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生), who doubles as chairman of Taipower, are those who should step down, Hsu said, also arguing that Taiwan's power shortages and blackouts are due to bad policy.

Taiwan People's Party lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) said in a statement that Wang's top priority at the moment is to carry out the government's plan to strengthen the resilience of the national grid and review its energy policy and energy consumption structure.