Thailand Property Online

By: YUTHANA PRAIWANC

Consumers' power bills will rise by 3.19% following the approval of an increase of 9.60 satang per unit (kilowatt-hour) in the Ft rate despite opposition from consumer groups. Combined with the 75.84-satang Ft imposed between February and May, the Ft from June to September will total 85.44 satang per unit.

Following the endorsement by the Electricity Regulatory Board yesterday, the basic electricity tariff will be 3.1044 baht per unit.

Yongyuth Vichaidit, the chairman of the board, said the decision to raise the Ft rate reflected the higher cost of fuel used in electricity generation in line with rising global oil prices

The cost of natural gas has increased to 192 baht from 182 baht per one million BTU (British Thermal Units), while fuel oil has risen to 15.75 baht from 15.25 baht per litre and diesel to 19.37 baht from 18.56 baht per litre.

In addition, flooding in many areas has impeded cheap hydro power production. Also, the cheaper lignite-fired power plant at Mae Mo in Lampang had been closed for annual maintenance.

The Ft rate for the previous period was 4.16 satang per unit lower than it should be, so the Ft rate for power consumed from June to September should actually be 11.99 satang per unit.

However, the new Ft rate could be brought down to 9.60 satang if the public saved power. Budget cuts on investment from power utilities could also help.

To cushion the impact on consumers who use less than 150 units of electricity per month and farmers who use electricity for water pumps, the board decided to discount bills by 10 satang per unit from June to September, said Mr Yongyuth.

The Confederation of Consumer Organisations of Thailand yesterday sent an open letter, signed by manager Sairung Thongplon to Mr Yongyuth, opposing the Ft hike.

It said the increase was not right because Ft calculations were still based on the return on investment capital (ROIC) that the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) had used to attract investors for its now-aborted stock market listing.

''The guideline is seen as taking advantage of the consumers since Egat's listing has been scrapped, such a formula is not fair and transparent to the consumers,'' said Ms Sairung.

The confederation called on the board to call off the new Ft increase until the ROIC guideline was revised