Domestic cooking gas prices will remain unchanged at 423 baht per 15-kilogramme cylinder until the end of March next year, though this increases the financial burden for the debt-ridden state Oil Fuel Fund, says the Energy Policy Administration Committee (EPAC).
Authorities capped the price through a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) price subsidy programme under the fund.
The price, based on the wholesale LPG price at refineries of 20.91 baht per kilogramme, is lower than the market price of LPG, which currently stands at 480 baht per 15-kilogramme cylinder.
Energy policymakers want to help households relieve the impact of expensive energy bills at a time when Thailand is struggling to deal with slow economic growth, said Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, who chaired the EPAC meeting on Tuesday.
The Pheu Thai Party-led coalition government has controlled energy prices, including LPG, diesel and electricity, after its general election in May last year.
The LPG and diesel price subsidy programmes are financed by the Oil Fuel Fund, which posted a loss of 105 billion baht as of Monday.
Energy experts and university academics earlier suggested the government better manage the fund by granting subsidies only to groups who desperately need the help, rather than implementing universal schemes.
However, authorities have maintained the universal subsidies.
In another development, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) granted licences for new power plant development projects to 72 companies participating in a recent auction under its second-phase renewables scheme, with total power generation capacity of more than 3.6 gigawatts.
In this auction, the ERC first approved projects with a total capacity of 2.14GW, comprising 1.58GW of solar farms to be developed by 64 companies and 0.56GW of wind farms by eight companies.
The remaining capacity will be granted to companies in another auction, scheduled to be held early next year.