The Energy Policy Administration Committee (Epac) has resolved to extend subsidy programmes to relieve the impact of high cooking gas prices and electricity bills on households until the end of this year.
Some 3.74 million people will be entitled to a 100-baht discount on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is used as cooking gas, under the state social welfare card scheme while households will be given different rates of discounts on the fuel tariff (Ft) from September to December.
The measures will be forwarded to the cabinet for a final say before they take effect.
The financial aid for LPG buyers, which is scheduled to end in September, will be extended, with discounts increasing from 45 to 100 baht per 15-kilogramme standard cylinder, said Kulit Sombatsiri, an Epac member and permanent secretary for energy.
The LPG prices are set to increase to between 393 and 408 baht per cylinder in August and September, respectively, Mr Kulit said earlier.
The Department of Energy Business is calculating how much budget the Finance Ministry has to allocate to support the LPG price subsidy programme.
Epac will also slow down electricity prices by spending 8 billion baht to give discounts to most households who are customers of two state electricity distribution arms -- the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority.
The move is aimed at maintaining the power tariff, which is used to calculate electricity bills, at 3.72 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit), instead of having it soar to a record high of 4.72 bhat per unit between September and December.
The 3.72-baht rate was used from January to April.
Households who use no more than 300 units of electricity a month will be given a Ft discount of 0.92 baht per unit.
Ft and the base tariff are two key elements in the power tariff.
The base tariff refers to the cost of power plants and distribution systems, while the fuel tariff is mainly determined by fuel costs, which are increasing as the Russia-Ukraine war continues.
According to Epac, households who use between 301 and 500 units of electricity a month will be given discounts of 15-75% on Ft.
The less electricity they use, the higher the discount they will receive.
