The Thai Sang Thai Party's (TST) chief strategist says she is against plans to raise the fuel tariff (FT), saying it will drive a surge in household power bills.
In April, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said a new power tariff will take the price of electricity to an average of 4.4 baht per kWh from September to December. But Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan said the last thing the people need is a rise in energy prices.
Writing on Facebook, she argued the hike is being proposed at a time when the three electricity generating state enterprises -- the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and the Provincial Electricity Authorty (PEA) -- have made accumulated profits exceeding 660 billion baht.
Egat takes the lion's share with accumulated profits totalling 374 billion baht, she said.
"People are suffering a great deal from surging consumer prices attributed in large part to the energy crisis," she said.
Raising household electricity bills would add to people's grievances, she said, referring to the planned FT increase from September to December. The FT, which is determined by fuel costs, is part of the formula used to calculate power bills.
Egat's subsidiaries were also enjoying large accumulated profits of almost 100 billion baht combined, according to Khunying Sudarat, who called on the government to reorient state enterprises in charge of public utilities from the pursuit of profit to reducing utility expenses.
The government must also negotiate with private energy suppliers to lower the supply charges blamed for pushing up power rates, she said.
Egat is accused of making the payment regardless of whether or not the actual supply of electricity is forthcoming. This is calculated with the consumer price index factored in.
Khunying Sudarat said the officials must help households and small businesses by subsidising the cost of their monthly electricity without requiring them to register for the discount.
The move to hike the power tariff stems from huge decreases of natural gas off the Gulf of Thailand, causing the kingdom to import expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the expiry of a gas production concession at the Erawan gas field causing a delay in new gas exploration and production, according to the ERC.
Thailand plans to import 4.5 million tonnes of LNG this year, about 15% of the country's total gas supply, said the National Energy Policy Council.
Higher LNG gas prices followed a rise in global oil prices, which began last year when many countries eased Covid-19 lockdown measures and resumed economic activities. LNG prices in the spot market 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 upcoming FT increase will be calculated before it schedules a final meeting on the matter this month or next. It said the FT calculation will take into consideration the impact of rising electricity bills.
