The government has earmarked 9 billion baht to subsidise people’s power bills from September to December to soften the impact from rising energy prices, Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Household electricity users will get the subsidy from September until 2022-end. Households that use 301-500 units per month will receive 15 to 75 per cent subsidy on their bills.
Meanwhile, households using less than 300 units per month will get a subsidy of 0.9204 baht per unit.
Supattanapong said about 80 per cent of all residential users nationwide will benefit from this measure. The subsidy measure will require a budget of 9 billion baht, which will come from the budget for fiscal year 2022-23.
He said the ministry also would consider extending the move next year, depending on the price of natural gas, the main cost in generating electricity.
Supattanapong called on the public to continue saving energy amid the rising global energy prices. If Thai people would reduce energy consumption by 10-20 per cent, they could save significant amount of money on their power bills, not to mention it will help the country in not having to rely heavily on imported energy, which tends to become more expensive, he said.