Thailand: towards the liberalisation of the electricity market
Thailand is getting ready to liberalise electricity production, a measure deemed essential to make the market more efficient and prices more affordable for consumers. The Country is providing to increase the monthly energy tax by 50% over the next 10 years and, to this effect, the Minister of Energy, Siri Jirapongphun, said that if prices were to continue to rise, Thailand could lose its competitive advantage in the field of infrastructure to the benefit of other actors. Therefore, Siri Jirapongphun believes that in order to lower electricity costs, it will be necessary to increase the industry’s efficiency and innovativeness. At the moment, the Ministry-run company EGAT is in charge of the production, transmission and sale of electricity. It is Thailand’s largest power production company: it owns and runs power plants in 45 different locations throughout the territory, with a total production capacity of 15,548 MW. The details of the deregulation plan will be outlined in the New National Power Development Plan (PDP) to be published on 31 March to replace the one in force since 2014. The first step in the liberalisation process will be opening the renewable energy market and subsequently the fossil fuel market.
