Monthly electricity bills across Thailand will drop 3% from April to June by order of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
The approval came yesterday after three state-run power generation and distribution organisations — Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) — announced they agreed to cut the electricity tariff by 3%.
The limited measure is part of the 40-billion-baht nationwide relief package in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and is intended to reduce the cost of living for power consumers.
ERC secretary-general Khomgrich Tantravanich said the 3% power tariff cut over the next three months will cost state power utilities 5.61 billion baht and will apply to all categories of power users.
He said his agency will also waive minimum charges for medium to large power consumers over the next three months, a measure that will primarily apply to businesses, special enterprises and large agricultural businesses.
Mr Khomgrich said the three state power enterprises are also returning cash deposits back to home and small business owners, a move that may cost the state 33 billion baht.
The deposit rate varies, depending on the size of the meter the user gets from the agencies. It starts at 300 baht for a very small residence and goes up to 6,000 baht.
Some 3.86 million houses and small businesses have already registered to get their deposits back over the last two weeks and the payments are on their way to power users. Residents of the Bangkok metropolitan area will receive their money back from the MEA, while those outside will get it from the PEA.
The three state power utilities have already maintained the fuel tariff (Ft) rate at 3.64 baht per kilowatt-hour for May-August, marking 20 months at the same rate to protect those struggling financially from the Covid-19 outbreak.