Consumers would pay less for electricity and be able to voice their discontent over poor service if the government abolished monopoly and brought transparency to state
electricity-generating utilities, says an independent working group.

Witoon P Charoen, vice chairman of the science and energy working group of the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (Nesac), yesterday proposed a major restructuring of the country’s energy sector by separating policy-making, operations and regulation under different bodies to create accountability and avoid conflict of interest.

Ambiguity and a lack of transparency hamper the current system, Witoon said. While the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) is responsible for power production and the operation of transmission grids, he said, it also sets its own policy, including energy forecasts and the selection of fuels.

Witoon said the utility operated under an ambiguous regulatory system. “When the state utility operates inefficiently, it can pass its losses on to consumers because of this highly centralised and monopolistic structure,” Witoon said.

“For example, when a power plant makes a mistake in production and has to shift from gas to diesel, which is more expensive, this expense is automatically passed on to us because we don’t have a system to check the mistake.”

Witoon said the system could be made more transparent and accountable by establishing a new independent energy-regulatory body through a democratic selection process similar to those of the National Broadcasting Commission and the National Telecommunication Commission.

The new body, he said, would play a key role in consumer protection by reviewing energy policy and forecasts, creating fair electricity prices, endorsing competition and investigating consumer complaints.

The working group has representatives from the Thai Consumer Foundation, the Thailand Development Research Institute, the Law Society and the Appropriate Technology Association.

The group wants to present its proposals for reforming the energy sector to the national workshop on energy to be chaired by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra later this month.

Witoon said Thailand’s energy sector had to shift away from producing a limitless pool of power to feed economic growth, a strategy it has stuck to since the development boom that took place from the 1960s to the 80s, to a 21st-century vision focusing on sustainable
production and efficiency.

“We should look seriously at alternative power sources that are more sustainable than conventional fossil fuel,” he said. “There are plenty of small factories and local communities which have the potential to produce power from agricultural waste. They should be encouraged to do so to create greater diversity of energy sources.”

Charnchai Limpiyakorn, vice president of the Appropriate Technology Association, added that the power-transmission system had to be separated from Egat to create transparency and enhance competition by potential new power-producers. It should be handed over to a new agency before Egat is listed on the stock market next year, he said.

“It’s as if someone controlled the highway and the transportation company at the same time,” Charnchai said. “It would make it difficult for a new company to compete in the transportation market.”

It shouldn’t happen here. With the current oversupply of electricity, a blackout like the one
that crippled large parts of the United States and Canada last week is unlikely to happen here. The last major outage to strike the country was back in 1978 and since then preventive measures have been implemented, Government Spokesman Sita Divari said yesterday.

Excess generating capacity has brought the national power reserve margin up to 40 per cent, compared to the international minimum of 15 per cent.