PM orders govt to cut power use by 20% as fuel crisis deepens
Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered all government agencies to reduce their energy usage by 20 per cent as Thailand struggles with the fuel price crisis.
Prayut said the Energy Ministry had proposed several measures to reduce energy usage, government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Friday. The PM added that he wanted clear goals and effective evaluation of the energy-saving push.
All agencies must achieve the 20 per cent cut within the set timeframe and report back via the set channels, Prayut told a meeting of the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC) on Friday.
The meeting also approved the purchase of 282.93 megawatts of electricity from 34 small power producers (SPP) and very small power producers (VSPP) under the feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism. The electricity will supply commercial users in 2025-2026.
Meanwhile the NEPC green-lighted plans under the National Power Development Plan 2018-2037 to increase generation of clean energy and buy renewable energy from producers with no fuel costs. It tasked the Energy Regulatory Commission with drafting the regulations and selection process for the purchase.
No other measures to tackle soaring energy prices or their burden on the public were discussed during the meeting.
