Expensive electricity bills, affecting people, factories and industrial estates “Sonthirat”, suggesting solutions

Date 3 Aug 2022 Mr.Sontirat Sontijirawong Secretary-General of the Future Thai Party (CAT) and former energy ministerFacebook In the case of electricity bill hikes and the consequences that will follow, I would like to invite everyone to think about electricity bills together. Because, as we have known before, the electricity cost in September-December will go up to almost 5 baht per unit, this is because the FT cost (Ft) has increased. In fact, many people still do not know what the FT value is. Why do you have to adjust up and down periodically? And every time it goes up and down, it affects the electricity bill every time.

Mr. Sontirat further stated that the FT or variable electricity cost It is an adjustment for cost management in power generation, such as fuel prices. inflation rate, currency rate, etc. when these values ​​rise or fall FTwill adjust accordingly. We must note that natural gas is mainly used for electricity generation. With a proportion of use up to 60% and the rest is used in the industrial sector, NGV gas separation plants and others. One reason is the cost of fuel used to generate electricity. especially natural gas Since after the Russo-Ukraine war The price has always increased rather than decreased. So what happened was that the FT value was increased.

while another cause is management Transition in the exploration and drilling of natural gas fields in our country at the Bongkot-Erawan field that had problems from entering the production that was delayed from the original plan until there is a problem with the ability to produce and gas transmission As a result, we have to depend on the use of gas outside the country where the price is constantly increasing. Therefore, the cost of electricity will increase if we can’t deal with this problem. Even now, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has helped to bear the impact that has been experienced here. But managing fuel costs is the first thing to consider.

However, the impact of gas and FT costs is not only affecting the general public who have to bear the burden of electricity bills. but also affects industrial plants Or industrial estates that use electricity from small power plants (SPPs) as well, because gas prices are more expensive. causing some small power plants to stop running as well Due to rising costs, SPP operators also spoke of the need to help look at production costs. because many costs incrementally The FT cost is also inconsistent with the rising cost of natural gas. In addition, the shutdown of small power plants means factories in industrial estates do not have reserve resources. The electrical system used in the factory may also be unstable. affect production efficiency and ultimately reduce the competitiveness of the country

“Today, if we come to talk about electricity bills We have to talk about cost, FT cost, gas cost, production fuel cost. to pass on to electricity users who are not just the general public but must include industrial plants industrial estates.”