Costly electricity bills are expected to cause more households and businesses to use renewable energy by installing rooftop solar panels, says SET-listed SPCG, a pioneer in solar farm development in Thailand.
The power tariff, which is used to calculate electricity bills for households, is likely to increase to 4.77 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit) between May and August, up from the previous record high of 4.72 baht per unit, according to the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Businesses will also pay 4.77 baht per unit, down from 5.33 baht per unit, applicable from January to April this year.
Rooftop solar power business generated a record high of 1.5 billion baht in revenue for SPCG's wholly-owned Solar Power Roof (SPR) before Covid-19 hit Thailand in January 2020.
The subsidiary saw its revenue drop during the pandemic, earning only 800 million baht in 2020, 200 million in 2021 and 500 million last year.
Pipat Viriyatranon, SPCG's financing director, believes SPR's revenue will double and reach 1 billion baht this year.
He attributed the increase to increasing purchases of rooftop solar panels by both households and factory owners who earlier delayed their decision to buy these products due mainly to the impact of lockdown measures, which subdued economic activity.
SPR currently has a backlog of purchase orders for solar panels, with combined electricity generation capacity tallying 15 megawatts.
The rooftop solar power business makes up around 15-20% of SPCG's total annual revenue, with the remainder coming from its solar farms.
The company is building new solar farms, with combined capacity of 500MW, in the Eastern Economic Corridor. They are scheduled to start operations early next year, said Mr Pipat.
SPCG estimates its revenue will decrease slightly this year due to the expiration of the adder tariff which had been granted to its 36 solar farms.
This year, 14 solar farms will see their adder tariff expire and an additional 13 solar farms will see the tariff expire in 2024.
The company already lost some revenue from the expiration of the adder tariff at nine of its solar farms.
SPCG posted revenue of 4.35 billion baht last year, a 3% drop from 4.49 billion baht in 2021.
Its net profit fell by 9.9% to 246 million baht due partly to higher operating costs.
