However, it remains to be seen whether the government, concerned about the impact of rising prices on the poor, will go along with this.
Electricity charges in Thailand consist of two elements, a base charge that rarely changes and a fuel tariff (FT) that varies with fuel prices. In line with government policy the ERC has already pegged the FT price for January-April.
Thanks to current government policy the Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand (Egat) is swallowing the B8 billion a month extra FT charge, along with another B3 billion for households that use less than 50 electricity units a month, in line with the government’s policy of free electricity for the poor.
The ERC is considering “alleviating people’s burdens” by clawing back budgets earmarked for new power plants but not used. In 2011 it clawed back B7 billion from Egat, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA).