Conservation Fund bureaucracy procedures blocking funding

The state-controlled Energy Conservation Fund is in dire need of a revamp as only 10% of the disbursed budget for fiscal 2018 went to energy-saving activities, says a source in the Energy Ministry.

Several layers of bureaucracy t o receive funding approval meant dozens of energy-saving activities were delayed for budget disbursement.

Requesting anonymity, a source familiar with the fund said the slow procedures were the main reason the ministry plans to improve not only budget allocation but also efficiency of budget disbursement.

“We had many activities and programmes that were awaiting Energy Conservation Fund approval in the last fiscal year,” the source said.

“For example, the Thai Niyom Yangyuen [Sustainable Thainess] development programme required a 5.2-billion-baht budget to develop renewable energy projects in rural areas, but it was cut because it was not approved within the last fiscal year.”

The fund is expected to revise regulations and budget allocation after the newly appointed permanent secretary of energy Kulit Sombatsiri initiated efforts to make the fund more transparent.

Established in 1992, the fund promotes energy conservation activities and greater efficiency of energy consumption through soft loans, grants, subsidies, scholarships and advance payments.

The fund collects a levy from all fuel products at 10 satang per litre and generates cash of nearly 3 billion baht per year.

There is no data for budget disbursement over the past two decades because the fund was used for political interventions. Media are not allowed to access or request the fund’s balance sheet.

The source said the fund’s regulations have to be revised during the consideration term because the fund has financed each project only once, but many of them come with construction terms that require maintenance budgets.

“We have seen several granted projects have retired earlier than they should,” the source said.

The department expects the revamp programme of each procedure to be approved by the fund’s executive board in the next two weeks.

The fund is one of tools for energy policymakers to cut energy consumption by 30% within 2036, equivalent of 56,142 kilotonnes of oil.

Hin Navawongse, vice-chairman for the Institute of Industrial Energy, said business operators will be more active on the energy saving campaign in 2019 by using 10 billion baht from the fund.