Opposition MP urges govt to drop clean-power purchase project

People’s Party MP Supachot Chaiyasat on Wednesday called on the government to cancel the pending project to purchase 3,668.5 megawatts of electricity from renewable sources to avoid a cost burden to the public.

The project was put on hold by the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC) on December 25 following concerns regarding the process and methods used in selecting providers of electricity. Critics feared that the project might benefit certain corporations at the expense of public interest.

The council said it would establish a team to investigate the procurement process to address public concerns.

Supachot on Wednesday said that so far no clear details of the investigation timeframe had been announced. He urged the government to drop this problematic project altogether, citing that it could potentially raise the electricity cost for Thais for the next 25 years.

The party-list MP from the main opposition party suggested that purchasing power from renewable sources should be done through direct PPA (power purchasing agreement), to ensure transparency.

“The People's Party and I have always said that the government's power purchasing policies have problems,” he said. “The purchase prices were set too high, blocking competition from new players.”

He added that the policies also lacked alternative methods for procuring electricity from various clean energy sources in a way that better meets the needs of the industrial sector while not burdening the public.

"I, therefore, call on the prime minister, the energy minister, and the NEPC to cancel this project, and instead increase the quota for clean energy purchase under the direct PPA approach,” said Supachot. “This way, power users and factories can buy electricity directly from clean power producers without burdening the public.”