Energy policy plan next month
The Energy Policy and Planning Office will submit the five-year, Bt60-billion budgetary plan of the Energy Conservation Promotion Fund (ENCON Fund) to the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC) next month, said EPPO director-general Twarath Sutabutr.
He said the EPPO, which is an interim administrator of the ENCON Fund, withheld its scheduled press conference at the last minute last Friday since the ENCON Fund Committee had not come to a conclusion on the fund’s spending plan over the next five years (2017-2021).
According to the EPPO’s proposal, the ENCON Fund will increase its budget to support and promote energy conservation and renewable-energy activities to Bt12 billion annually during the next five years, up from Bt7 billion annually during the previous five-year period.
However, Twarath denied a news report that the government would double the ENCON Fund’s levy on local sales of petroleum products to Bt0.50 a litre.
"A director [of the ENCON Fund] suggested [the increase of the levy] citing the fact that oil prices were likely to stay low for the next few years and thus it is now an opportune time to encourage a shift of transport modes, such as towards mass transit and rail.
"But this [proposal] was not considered and was not included in the meeting’s agenda. The committee considers the Bt0.25-a-litre rate sufficient to support the energy-conservation and renewable-energy plans," said the director-general.
The ENCON Fund has allocated a total of Bt21 billion to support energy conservation and renewable- and alternative-energy projects during the five-year period from 2012 to 2016.
The fund has come under growing criticism from some energy activists, including Rosana Tositrakul, who recently urged the prime minister to investigate its transparency and inspect the use of the fund’s budgets during the past 10 years. Twarath said the ENCON Fund Committee had not yet reached a conclusion on how its budget should be allocated.
The EPPO has proposed that the fund spend 67 per cent of its total budget on energy conservation, 30 per cent on promoting renewable energy, and the remaining 3 per cent for "strategic management" of the fund. But some committee members suggested projects that support the shift of transport modes to more energy-efficient ones should be given special promotion.
Moreover, some committee members also recommend that the ENCON Fund should give more support to research and development.
"We have been allocating 75 per cent of our budget on pilot and demonstration projects, and 5 per cent on promoting R&D and innovations. Some [committee members] would like to increase the R&D allocation to 10 per cent," he said.
The EPPO will pursue additional analysis and submit the ENCON Fund’s next five-year plan for consideration by the NEPC, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, at its next meeting scheduled for March 11.
"Among the innovations that were much discussed and [the committee] would like to happen are electric vehicles and smart-city projects that will help promote the shift of transport modes towards less use of personal vehicles," Twarath said.
The ENCON Fund had an outstanding balance of Bt36.1688 billion as of January 31. Thanks to rising fuel consumption, the fund’s annual intake is forecast to grow by between Bt9 billion and Bt10 billion, compared with Bt8 billion per year in recent years.
The choice of a "permanent mechanism" to administrator the ENCON Fund is another issue yet to be resolved by the committee. The EPPO has suggested three options: a pure bureaucratic agency, an independent agency, or a "hybrid" agency that would be set up under the EPPO.
