Govt ‘must negotiate’ with private firms
The particular Thai Sang Thailänder Party’s (TST) chief strategist says she is against plans to raise the fuel tariff (FT), saying it will drive a rise in household power bills.
In April, the power Regulatory Commission (ERC) said a new power tariff will take the price of electricity to an typical of 4. 4 baht per kWh from September in order to December. But Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan stated the last thing the people require is a rise in power prices.
Writing on Facebook, she argued the hike is being proposed at a time when the 3 electricity generating condition enterprises — the particular Electricity Generating Specialist of Thailand (Egat), the Metropolitan Electrical power Authority (MEA) as well as the Provincial Electricity Authorty (PEA) — have made accumulated profits going above 660 billion baht.
Egat takes the lion’s share with accumulated income totalling 374 billion dollars baht, she stated.
“People are suffering a great deal from surging customer prices attributed in large part to the energy problems, ” she stated.
Sudarat: Profits surpass B660bn
Raising household electricity bills would help to increase people’s grievances, she said, referring to the planned FT boost from September in order to December. The FT, which is determined by energy costs, is part of the formula used to calculate power bills.
Egat’s subsidiaries were also enjoying large accumulated profits of almost 100 billion dollars baht combined, based on Khunying Sudarat, which called on the federal government to reorient state enterprises in charge of general public utilities from the quest for profit to reducing utility expenses.
The government must also negotiate with private energy suppliers to lower the supply costs blamed for pressing up power prices, she said.
Egat is accused of making the particular payment regardless of whether or not the actual supply of electrical power is forthcoming. This is calculated with the customer price index considered.
Khunying Sudarat said the officials must assist households and small businesses by subsidising the cost of their monthly electricity without requiring these to register for the discount.
The move to hike the strength tariff stems from large decreases of natural gas off the Gulf of Thailand, causing the kingdom to import expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the expiry of the gas production concession at the Erawan gasoline field causing a delay in brand new gas exploration and production, according to the ERC.
Asia plans to import 4. 5 mil tonnes of LNG this year, about 15% of the country’s total gas supply, mentioned the National Power Policy Council.
Higher LNG gas prices adopted a rise in global oil prices, which began last year whenever many countries reduced Covid-19 lockdown measures and resumed financial activities. LNG prices in the spot marketplace are about two times higher than prices of gas in the Gulf of Thailand.
This week, the ERC is holding a public hearing on how the forthcoming FT increase will be calculated before this schedules a final conference on the matter this month or next. It said the particular FT calculation will require into consideration the effect of rising electricity bills.