Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is adamant the government will resubmit a proposed 11-billion-baht subsidy on household electricity bills for approval by the Election Commission (EC).
Approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, the proposal was last week rejected by the poll regulator, according to a source.
Asked when the government will resubmit the proposal to the EC, Gen Prayut said the paperwork will be resubmitted by Tuesday along with a justification for its immediate approval which he believes will soon follow.
Under Section 169 of the constitution, any budget allocation for emergencies by an outgoing cabinet after a House dissolution must be endorsed by the poll agency first.
Under the cabinet's plan, the power subsidy would be extended for another four months from May until August for households that consume less than 300 units per month, to help struggling households.
Those that consume 1-150 units a month would get a reduction of 92.04 satang per unit while those using 151-300 units would be given a reduction of 67.04 satang per unit.
About 7.6 billion baht will be drawn from the 2023 budget for emergency purposes to finance a plan hoped to help 18.36 million households.
Another measure to help people with costly power bills is a proposed reduction of 150 baht for households that use no more than 500 units this month for May only.
Next month is expected to see a new record of around 23.4 million households using more than 500 units.
The Secretariat of the Cabinet therefore made an urgent appeal to the EC seeking permission to pay a subsidy to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) to help ease a 150-billion-baht shortfall incurred through its freezing of the fuel tariff in its calculation of energy prices.
Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a former EC member who is now chief strategist of the Seri Ruam Thai Party, however, said he personally believes the EC will not approve the energy subsidy plan until after the May 14 election.
The EC is aware that it could be a breach of the law to approve the proposal before that.
Despite the caretaker government knowing this, it continues to talk up the cash handout under the pretence that there is a chance the EC will give it a green light, according to Mr Somchai.