The Cabinet, during its meeting on 25 April 2023, approved a proposal to seek approval of 11,112 million baht from the Election Commission of Thailand to extend the subsidy for discounts on electricity bills.

Deputy Secretary-General to the Prime Minister and Acting Government Spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said, as Thailand is in the period of a dissolution of the House of Representatives, the Cabinet needs to seek approval from the Election Commission on budget spending in case of emergency or necessity. 

The seeking of approval is in accordance with Section 169 of the present Constitution, which states that the outgoing Council of Ministers shall refrain from acts which result in giving approval to the expenditure of budget reserved for an emergency or exigency, except by prior approval of the Election Commission.

Mr. Anucha said that the Cabinet had acknowledged a report on higher electricity consumption among households during the hot season of 2023 and the people’s difficulties due to higher power bills. It deemed it necessary to issue urgent measures to help the people affected by high production costs from electricity generation. 

The temperature in many parts of the country has reached more than 40 degrees Celsius. As a result, people’s need for electricity has increased by 6 percent.

Under the new subsidy, each household using 300 units of electricity per month or less will get the same discounts for four months, from May to August 2023. A total of 18.36 million people will benefit from the subsidy.

As for the households using between 301-500 units of electricity a month, they will also receive a discount of 150 baht for the electricity bill in May. A total of 23.40 million households of this type will benefit from the subsidy.

Altogether, these subsidy measures will benefit more than 41 million people. Electricity consumption in the country is expected to begin to decline in June.