MEA announces relief measures to help users affected by Covid-19 situation
Electricity usage has seen a sharp spike among residential users with more people working from home to promote the government's social distancing policy, said Jaturong Suriyassin, deputy director-general and spokesman of Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA).
“We realise that many users are affected economically by Covid-19,” he said. “Therefore, MEA will employ the following measures to further help electricity users in this difficult situation.”
1 MEA will reduce electricity bills by three per cent for all types of users for three months (April-June). This measure is expected to help 3.9 million users save up to Bt1.6 billion in power bills.
2 MEA will offer a grace period of six months to users in hotel and rental residence businesses to postpone paying their power bills for April and May. This measure expects to help 3,400 entrepreneurs to postpone paying Bt1.4 billion worth of power bills.
3 The authority will returm electricity deposits to residential and SME users who registered on https://measy.mea.or.th since March 25. This measure expects to help 3.8 million users get their deposit back, totalling more than Bt1.3 billion.
4 Minimum electricity charge will be exempted for large-scale businesses and hotels from April until June, expecting to help 29,000 entrepreneurs save up to Bt167 million.
5 Free usage cap for residential users with less than 5 amps metres will be increased from 50 to 90 units per month from April until June, expecting to help 205,000 users save up to Bt74 million.
6 Residential users with less than 5 amps meters will get a grace period of six months to pay their power bills for April, May and June. This measure expects to help 165,000 users postpone the paying of Bt300 million worth of power bills.
The MEA also will exempt service charge when users pay their bills at convenience stores or via online channel. Users are encouraged to download the mobile application ‘MEA Smart Life’, which will enable them to conveniently pay their bills as well as report electricity malfunction without having to come down to MEA branch offices.
For further information, contact MEA Call Centre 1130 or Line @meanews.
