Energy policy causing huge pain: Piyasvasti
The government's restrictive energy policy has caused great grief to the country, which is not yet prepared to cope with the energy crisis, Piyasvasti Amranand, an energy expert, said yesterday.
Piyasvasti told a seminar on "Energy Direction from the Private Sector's Perspective" that the government should promote fair competition in the natural gas, electricity and oil businesses. The industries should be supervised by independent agencies so that the public has more choices. Then people will consume energy according to actual price trends, he said. However, the government has implemented the wrong policy by letting PTT Plc monopolise the natural gas business from exploration and pipelines to the provision of gas to power plants. This limits competition and consumers don't have much choice, Piyasvasti said. The natural gas business should, instead, be separated from PTT's pipeline network to allow third parties to take part in natural gas distribution, which would promote competition and choice. The independent agencies should be given the freedom to operate under clear work guidelines without interference from the government. Their commissioners should not have unlimited power like the election commissioners have. Piyasvasti, chairman of the Power for Environment Foundation, said further that if the government continued to intervene in PTT's oil policies and forced oil distributors to operate on negative marketing margins for long, small oil traders will be driven out of business. Only big players will be left, which is not good for consumers, he said. The government should reform the energy management structure because at present, policymakers and overseers for the sector also become the directors of energy companies, he said. For instance, the Energy Ministry's senior officials sit on the boards of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat Plc) and PTT. This can create conflicts of interest, Piyasvasti said. The six-month delay in floating the cooking gas price would further distort the price structure and require the government to take on an additional but unnecessary burden of Bt150 million. Eventually, the cost will be passed on to consumers, he said.
Watcharapong Thongrung The Nation
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