Consumer Council urges EGAT to cancel announcement to purchase more renewable energy, pointing out that it favors the same group of capitalists.

The Consumer Council urged the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to cancel the announcement to purchase additional renewable energy because it violates the objectives of the Energy Regulatory Act, which does not use a competitive method and discriminates by issuing announcements to favor the same private sector. On September 27, 2024, the Energy Regulatory Commission issued the 'Announcement on the Purchase of Electricity from Renewable Energy in the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Format 2022-2030 for the Group with No Fuel Costs 2022 (Additional) 2024', which is an announcement to grant rights to the original group of 198 entrepreneurs who were not selected in the first round according to the announcement on the purchase of electricity from renewable energy in the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) format 2022-2030 for the Group with No Fuel Costs 2022, with a total electricity purchase volume of 2,180 megawatts, divided into 600 megawatts of wind power and 1,580 megawatts of ground-mounted solar power (solar farms). Ms. Rosana Tositrakul, Subcommittee on Public Services, Energy and Environment, Consumer Council, said that the Consumer Council has filed an appeal against the announcement to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) because the issuance of the additional announcement in 2024 is still subject to the criteria that do not use the price competition method, which has been set since 2022. The granting of the right to sell electricity to all 198 operators does not use the price competition method, but the electricity purchase price has been set and prohibited from being changed since 2022 during the government of General Prayut Chan-o-cha as Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Energy Policy Committee (NEPC). The important point is that the issue has never been brought to the NEPC meeting chaired by Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, the current Prime Minister, for the Prime Minister to be aware of, even though Ms. Paethongtarn announced the policy to the parliament on September 12, 2024, while the announcement was issued on September 27, 2024. The issuance of the additional announcement in 2024 by the Energy Regulatory Commission is an action that does not comply with the government's policy that was announced to the parliament that 'the government will adhere to the rule of law and transparency, create legitimacy in the administration of the country, and also violates the Energy Industry Act B.E. 2550, which aims to promote competition in the energy business and prevent the abuse of power, not allowing competition, locking prices, locking companies that participate in proposing projects, and using selection criteria that lack transparency.' Therefore, electricity users will not be able to get lower electricity prices from this announcement. 'If the ERC will proceed with the purchase of electricity according to this announcement, it may be considered that the ERC has intentionally performed or neglected to perform its duties improperly, causing damage to energy users. I would like to suggest that the operation for the new roun d of electricity purchase to be fair and transparent under the principle of promoting competition, the government should operate under the Power Development Plan of Thailand 2018-2037 (PDP 2024) which is currently being prepared. This will create legitimacy, be appropriate for the current situation, and be in line with the government's policy announced to the parliament, which would be the best,' said Ms. Rasana. Source: Thai News Agency