CPAT Files Group Claims Against Taipower 303停電 消保團體助高市民眾告台電求償

The Consumer Protection Association in Taiwan has cooperated with the Kaohsiung City to help its residents to claim compensation regarding the March 3 power outage. 

The traffic lights were completely out. Service on Kaohsiung MRT and light rail were both temporarily suspended. Elevators were damaged due to power outages. There was a power outage in Taiwan on March 3 this year, affecting 1.86 million households in Kaohsiung. The city government set up a single window to assist the public in seeking compensation, but there is still no consensus. The Consumer Protection Association in Taiwan cooperated with Kaohsiung City's consumer protection officer to help residents file a group claim against Taipower. Kaohsiung households that are registered for non-business electricity use can join the claim starting from Aug. 1 to the end of the month.

Hsu Bang-han, Executive Director, Consumer Protection Association in Taiwan: “Presenting evidence is basically very hard. So our principle in receiving cases is to encourage households to provide evidence if they have evidence.”

Yin Mao-chien, Consumer Protection Officer, Kaohsiung City Gov't: “Taipower has attended all the negotiations. But there is no consensus on compensation.”

CPAT stated that the March 3 power outage affected the entire country, but Taipower continued to have power outages afterwards. Although CPAT knows that this group lawsuit is not easy, especially providing proof, it still encourages the public to file claims to push Taipower on being more vigilant.

Tsai Ming-je, Lead Lawyer, Consumer Protection Association in Taiwan: “I think this may be on a case-by-case basis on how the court will decide. We still have to explain to the court. We will do our best to assist consumers in finding evidence under the premise of the law.”

Citizen: “It's their problem, so we should file for compensation. It was their fault and I think we should be compensated.”

Some people agreed with the group's claim, while others thought the procedure was too long and will not participate. Taipower said it had already provided discounts on electricity bills for the damage caused by the March 3 blackout. The company apologized again for the damage caused by the March 3 blackout and said it will make every effort to maintain a stable power supply in the future. 

今年303全台大停電，高雄共有186萬戶受影響，市府設單一窗口協助民眾求償，但仍無共識，台灣消保會和市府消保官合作，由消保會出面，幫受害民眾跟台電打團體訴訟，8月1日到8月底前，只要設籍高雄市、非營業用電的住戶，都可申請。

台灣消費者保護協會執行長徐邦瀚說：「去提證據，這是基本上是很困難的地方，所以我們在收件的原則就是說，我們會鼓勵消費者，你有證據，你就提證據。」

高雄市府消保官殷茂乾表示，基本上台電協商都有出席，但是對賠償沒有共識。台灣消保會表示，303大停電影響全台，但台電後續又不斷有停電的狀況，雖然知道這次團訟不易，尤其舉證更是困難，但還是鼓勵民眾提告，讓台電有所警惕。

台灣消保會主打律師蔡明哲表示：「法院會採信到什麼程度，我想這個可能要在個案上，再去做說明，總之我們會在法律的前提之下，盡力的協助消費者蒐證。」

民眾說：「其實是因為是他們的問題，所以應該是要求償，本來就是他們錯的話，就要該賠償，我覺得是應該的。」

團訟告台電，有人認同、有人認為程序冗長不會參與，台電表示，303大停電造成的損害有提供電費折扣，一切照程序辦理，尊重用戶有不同角度的意見，等訴訟成立後再看情況回應，也再次對303大停電造成的損害致歉，後續會全力維持供電穩定。