Bangkok: Dr. Atthawich Suwannabhakdi, a member of parliament from the Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party, has called for the dissolution of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to return the authority of setting electricity pricing policy back to the government in a bid to tackle high electricity prices. He also suggested reducing redundant AI training budgets across all ministries to enhance the efficacy of the TH-AI Passport project.
According to Thai News Agency, Dr. Atthawich dissected the allocation of the 2027 annual budget, emphasizing the need for governmental control over electricity pricing. Highlighting a revenue decrease of 13 billion baht for the Ministry of Energy due to declining energy reserves in the Gulf of Thailand, he pointed out the urgency of exploring deep-water energy sources in the Andaman Sea. The depletion of domestic gas reserves could lead to escalating liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity prices, necessitating preparations from the government. He proposed transforming the ERC into a supporting agency under the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC), chaired by the Prime Minister, to directly manage electricity pricing.
Dr. Atthawich noted that the ERC, established in 2008, was initially tasked with overseeing the liberalization of power plants, a policy that included selling the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), which ultimately did not materialize. He argued that EGAT should remain entirely Thai-owned, rendering the ERC obsolete. Furthermore, past ERC policies prevented EGAT from competing with private firms in electricity generation, leading to a decline in EGAT's production share to 29%, compared to 71% by private companies, a structure he deemed distorted and unnecessary.
Regarding the TH-AI Passport project, Dr. Atthawich described it as a training initiative utilizing AI from 14 companies across 31 models, shifting from a lump-sum payment to a pay-per-active user model. The government will pay the private sector 25 baht per user monthly, only incurring costs based on actual usage. Scheduled for implementation in July 2026 and overlapping with the 2027 budget, the project spans a year, during which Dr. Atthawich advocated for cutting redundant AI training budgets in various ministries to ensure efficient use of government resources.