Household electricity consumers are being assured that their bills for May through August will not rise substantially and will be between 4.20-4.25 baht per unit, said Komkrit Tantravanich, secretary-general of the Energy Regulatory Commission.

He said that this price range is estimated based on the amount of natural gas, from the Gulf of Thailand, being increased to 800 million cubic feet per day in April.

The price of natural gas, or LNG, has fallen to $US10-$US11 US dollars/million BTU, but the estimated unit price of electricity does not include the subsidies being borne by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), said Komkrit.

The average price of electricity will be 4.25 baht/unit for the whole of this year, if the production of LNG in the Gulf follows the production plan and the global price stabilises at US$10-US$11 US dollars/million BTU.

The electricity price during the first four months of this year has been set at 4.18 baht/unit.

Komkrit said that the private sector’s call for the price to be cut to 3.60 baht/unit unachievable, because the commission has already cut production costs.