Ministry seeks to extend fuel tariff
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The fuel adjustment tariff or Ft will be extended at its current rate for all or part of next year to help flood victims under a proposal from the Energy Ministry.
Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said yesterday that three options would be presented to the National Energy Policy Council chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra – maintain the Ft rate from JanuaryApril at a cost of Bt7.74 billion, or JanuaryAugust at Bt18.70 billion, or JanuaryDecember at Bt34.09 billion.
The three state power utilities will be assigned to share this cost first.
The selected option will be forwarded to the Cabinet for final consideration.
The ministry will also propose to the council a lowering of the threshold for the freeelectricity scheme to 50 units per month per household from the present 90 units.
This would ease the burden on industry, which has shouldered this cost, from 12 satang per unit per month, totalling Bt13.31 billion, to 3 satang per unit, totalling Bt3.52 billion. The ministry has also considered recruiting any parties to help industry bear this cost.
The ministry will also propose a plan to promote the “One Community, One Megawatt” project by supporting 400 communities to launch solar projects with a total budget of Bt700 million.
