Four-month cut in electricity bills comes into effect
Household electricity users will receive discounts on their power bills for the four months from May to August, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said on Wednesday.
Anucha confirmed that the subsidy, which was previously approved by the Election Commission (EC), will be effective retroactively from May, despite the power bills for May having already been issued.
“The electric authorities will subtract the discounts from the following month’s bills,” he said.
Under the measure, those who use 1-150 units of electricity will receive a reduction of 92.04 satang per unit (100 satang equals 1 baht). Those who use 151-300 units will get a reduction of 67.04 satang per unit. Households using 301-500 units will receive a flat discount of 150 baht. The discount is calculated from power cost before value-added tax.
The EC on May 15 approved the caretaker Cabinet’s proposal to spend 10.46 billion baht on subsidising household electricity to reduce people’s financial burden.
The caretaker Cabinet is required to seek EC approval for every extra expenditure to prevent indirect vote-buying charges around the time of May 14 general election.
“The current government does not neglect its responsibility and will continue to work under its legal duties to reduce people’s burden,” Anucha said.
