Cabinet okays electricity bill discounts for 4 months

The cabinet yesterday approved an expenditure of 7.5 billion baht to provide discounts on electricity bills from January to April for more than 19 million households, according to a spokesman.

Anucha Burapachaisri, deputy secretary-general to the prime minister and acting government spokesman, said the cabinet approved assistance for households because the power tariff was high.

The discounts were for households that use up to 300 units of electricity per month, he said.

Of the total budget, 3.2 billion baht was from the central government budget expenditure for emergency spending, while 4.3 billion baht was funded by state-owned oil giant PTT Plc, Mr Anucha said.

From January to April, electricity users with the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) and the Electricity Authority of Royal Thai Navy Welfare Concession will be given a discount on the fuel tariff (Ft) charge if they consume less than 300 units per month.

For households that use 1-150 units, the discount has been set at 0.9204 baht per unit.

Those using 151-300 units per month are eligible for a discount of 0.6704 baht per unit.

About 19.66 million households would benefit from the discount, Mr Anucha said.

The actual cost of electricity has been at a record-high 4.72 baht per unit since September due to the high cost of fuel used in electricity generation.

Previously, the cabinet agreed to provide subsidies for electric users who used less than 300 units per month from May-August last year with a budget of 1.72 billion baht.

Afterwards, the cabinet extended the subsidy for each household that consumed less than 500 units of electricity each month until the end of last year with a budget of 9.12 billion baht as assistance for rising energy prices.