Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the Prime Minister of Thailand, announced after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the Cabinet has acknowledged measures to alleviate the financial burden of energy costs on the public. Proposed by the Ministry of Energy, the new target is to reduce the electricity rates for the billing cycle from May to August 2025 to not exceed 3.99 baht per unit without using government subsidies.
The Cabinet has tasked the Minister of Energy with overseeing the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to ensure that the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) implements the new electricity tariff not exceeding 3.99 baht per unit.
Additionally, directives were given to EGAT, its board, and the ERC to collaborate on addressing three major issues within 45 days:
- Develop solutions for issues related to power purchase agreements in the form of Adder and FiT, including conditions that allow these contracts to have an indefinite duration without a specified end date.
- Find ways to resolve problems associated with Availability Payments (AP), Energy Payments (EP), and other agreements within power purchase agreements (PPA) from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that may place EGAT or the state at a disadvantage with excessively high costs or above-realistic expenditures.
- Identify solutions to obstacles within various power purchase agreements that hinder the System Operator (SO) from managing to reduce electricity production costs for EGAT.
The Cabinet also approved the Ministry of Energy and the Energy Policy and Planning Office to study and propose methods to adjust the structure of the Pool Gas system, aiming to reduce gas prices used for electricity generation so that the public benefits from lower rates. This should be completed in time for the electricity tariff announcement for the September to December 2025 billing cycle.
