The power tariff, which will be capped at 4.18 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit) to maintain electricity prices until the end of this year, is likely to decrease early next year, as global demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is thought to be decreasing, which would result in lower gas prices.
The demand and supply of LNG plays a key role in determining the tariff rate, which is used to calculate power bills.
Gas, from domestic sources and LNG imports, makes up 60% of the fuels used to generate power in Thailand, followed by coal (20%), renewable energy, both locally produced and imported (15%), and oil (5%).
Seasonal global demand for LNG tends to decrease at the beginning of the year and early this year the decline coincided with the Energy Regulatory Commission's imposition of the power tariff for the January-April period, said Poonpat Leesombatpiboon, secretary-general of the ERC.
The tariff stood at 4.18 baht a unit during the four-month period and the rate has continued to remain unchanged since then.
If there are no events such as severe geopolitical conflicts that would affect energy prices and the government maintains its policy to spend part of the income from electricity bills to settle the debt it owes to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) and national oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc, the power tariff will decrease or remain at the current rate, he said.
As of the end of June, Egat incurred a loss of 98 billion baht as it helped the government subsidise electricity bills to relieve the impact of expensive energy prices on businesses and households.
Egat and PTT, the country's sole gas seller, also helped the government subsidise gas prices, which cost them 12 billion baht and 3 billion baht, respectively.
The ERC earlier held a public hearing on the new power tariff between September and December, asking people to choose among three choices, based on money to be paid back to Egat and PTT as well as gas prices.
The alternative rates -- 4.65, 4.92 or 6.01 baht per unit -- were viewed as being too expensive by the government which later decided to put a cap at 4.18 baht per unit.
In another development, the ERC will organise an auction for its second-phase renewables scheme, with total power generation capacity of 3.66 gigawatts, within the fourth quarter, said Gunn Seangruang, deputy secretary-general of the ERC.
The commission agreed to adjust conditions allowing power companies which did not participate in the first phase of the scheme to join the new auction.
They can bid for renewable power projects, with combined capacity of 1,480 megawatts, while unsuccessful participants in the first-phase auction can compete for the projects, with up to 2,180MW in capacity.