Govt likely to delay floating of cooking gas
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The government is likely to delay further the plan to float the price of cooking gas beyond the schedule of July 1, pending the conclusion of measures to ease the possible impact of the float on low-income households.
The Energy Business Department Tuesday met with liquefied-petroleum-gas retailers but failed to reach a conclusion on the measures.
Viraphol Jirapraditkulm, director-general of the department, said the meeting came up with only two options. One is for the shops to continue selling LPG to low-income people at the current price of Bt18.13 per kilogram and the LPG traders will absorb the difference. Later the traders and shops will settle this cost. The department will meet with them again to seek a clear guideline on this settlement.
The second option is for households buy LPG at the actual market price and the government will pay compensation later into their bank accounts. However, it has yet to be decided which parties would shoulder the cost of this funds transfer.
The Nation
