Rising gas price to hike fuel tariff next year

Commissioner Boonsong Kerdklang said yesterday that the rise in tariff from January to April would be in line with the rising cost of electricity production due to the rising price of natural gas in the past six months. Natural gas accounts for 70 per cent of the fuel used to produce electricity.
He added that the regulator would seek ways to prevent a high tariff rate by taking into its rate calculation the remaining unspent investment budget of the three state electricity agencies. Their investment on any project is usually taken into account when calculating the tariff rate.
He said the large volumes of water in dams had hardly been of much help as there are just a few hydropower plants.
The regulator also proposed a reduction in the eligibility cap for free electricity to the poor, from 90 units a month to 65 units, which will sharply reduce the subsidy amount. The proposal is based on the Interior Ministry’s study of the poverty line. Those with monthly income below Bt5,000 are considered poor.
The change would reduce the number of eligible households from 7 million to 2 million, and subsidies would fall from Bt12 billion a year to Bt3.6 billion.
He expects the ministry to make a decision on the matter this month.
The regulator is also working out a new electricity price structure to reflect the real cost, Boonsong added.
The regulator yesterday also introduced three new commissioners, who replaced those whose term has ended. The new commissioners are Boonsong himself, Pisit Soontareerat, and San Witechpong. The regulator has six commissioners.