Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow offers defended the government’s power development plan, saying it does not just benefit energy businesses as alleged with the opposition.
Mr Supattanapong had been speaking during the skin debate against the federal government after the opposition required aim at its plan to ramp up prices.
The particular opposition further stated that the electricity production capacity, if taken care of at an excessively high degree, will result in a greater monetary burden for consumers.
Mr Supattanapong insisted the figures used by the particular ministry to estimate the power production capability are correct plus differ from those provided by the opposition.
According to the ministry’s calculation, the excess capability currently exceeds 35%, not 54% as claimed by the resistance.
“Currently, the total electricity production capacity is more than 50, 000 megawatts, which may sound large.
“But a breakdown of the figures shows the production comes from various sources, like solar cells, wind, or biomass. Power out there sources cannot be produced all the time, and depends on factors such as the season, time of day and weather, ” he said.
Stable production capacity ought to be maintained at 35%, he added.
He accepted the 35% degree exceeds the tolerance of 15% recommended by the opposition.
“But there were to plan several years in advance and we received on information through several agencies plus advisers that have assessed the demand pertaining to electricity for decades.
“Due towards the [Covid-19 and economic] crises over the past 2 yrs, the demand intended for electricity has dropped so we had to program the investment within production capacity ahead of time, ” the ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) said.
Under the new energy development plan for 2022, production capacity has been reduced by over 3, 000 megawatts, he said, including that demand just for power is also likely to increase for electric powered vehicles in the future.
Mr Supattanapong said the production capability is expected to return to 15-20% in the next 5-7 years, adding it must be increased to rejuvenate the existing electricity supplies which will be used up over time.
Concerning a planned hike in the fuel tariff (FT), he said this reflects the particular change in gasoline costs, which have been revised for several years.
According to media reviews, the Energy Regulatory Commission rate (ERC) is thinking of increasing the FEET used to calculate electricity bills, which would cause bills to rise to 5 baht per device.
Mr Supattanapong said the commission is expected to conclude how much the ability tariff, made up of basics tariff and the FT, will be increased simply by within this month.