Thai manufacturers urged to shift to renewable energy to reduce costs
The Ministry of Industry of Thailand has emphasized the importance of manufacturers seriously embracing renewable energy, highlighting higher electricity bills as a critical factor in bringing firms’ attention to this issue.
Bangkok (NNT/VNA) - The Ministry ofIndustry of Thailand has emphasized the importance of manufacturers seriouslyembracing renewable energy, highlighting higher electricity bills as a criticalfactor in bringing firms’ attention to this issue.
The Office of Industrial Economics (OIE) statedthat the industrial sector should consider shifting towards renewable energy inorder to alleviate the financial burden caused by rising electricity bills.Using renewable energy such as biomass or solar power could be implementedalongside efficient management of electricity usage to lower costs.
OIE Director-General Warawan Chitaroon said thegovernment is aware that higher electricity prices will affect businesses, butthe Energy Regulatory Commission can only slightly reduce a planned increase inthe power tariff which is used to calculate electricity bills, from 20.5% to13%. The increase in the power tariff, from 4.72 THB per kilowatt-hour (unit)to 5.33 THB per unit, will result in a variety of increased manufacturingcosts, depending on the sector.
The fuel tariff (Ft) is a key factor in the powertariff and is determined by the fuel cost for energy generation in the country.Thailand’s Ft is high when compared to neighboring countries, with the OIEreporting that the country’s Ft rate ranks third in ASEAN, behind Singapore andthe Philippines.
The Federation of Thai Industries also expressedconcerns in regard to the country’s Ft, stressing that high energy prices candeter foreign investments or force manufacturers to cancel existing contractsfor business in the country.
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Illustrative image (Source: thainews.prd.go.th) 
