Energy Ministry to reduce electricity losses to lower costs

The Energy Ministry will aim to reduce electricity losses in public services managed by two power authorities, with the goal of lowering costs by 0.1 baht per unit, resulting in reduced power bills for consumers, its top official announced on Tuesday.

Prasert Sinsukprasert, Permanent Secretary for the Energy Ministry, stated that the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) would be instructed to review and cease public lighting services that are no longer in use.

The two authorities will also be directed to identify and address electricity losses. Additionally, they will review requests from local administrations for free electricity usage, particularly in cases where such administrations have switched to using solar panels to generate their own electricity, Prasert explained.

By reducing these costs, the two authorities may achieve a reduction of ten satang, or 0.1 baht, per unit, translating into lower power bills for users.

He noted that implementing these measures would require cooperation between several ministries, including the Interior Ministry and the Transport Ministry.

Prasert further mentioned that the ministry’s working committee, which is tasked with lowering power bills, would draft detailed cost-cutting proposals for government approval soon.

On the proposal to reduce the availability payment (AP) to private power generation plants, Prasert said private firms opposed the measure, citing the need to repay loans invested in the plants. The AP rate is paid to private companies that have secured long-term contracts to supply electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

Prasert added that the working committee had determined it would not be worthwhile for the government to purchase private power plants solely to eliminate the AP cost. However, the committee will continue to explore solutions to the AP issue over the coming months.

When asked if the electricity rate could be reduced to 3.7 baht per unit this year, Prasert said he could not confirm, as achieving this goal would require the collaboration of several agencies, including EGAT, MEA, PEA, PTT Plc, the Energy Ministry, and private power plants.