Thailand Reduces Power Costs to ฿3/Unit for Households

Who comes up with these schemes.

So a house with 5 or 6 people living in it would be penalized even if each person used 100 units a month (500 or 600 units total) while one person consuming up to 200 units a month will benefit.

At least they are bringing awareness to energy conservation and changing some equipment to energy efficient equipment

The government's stupidity without borders. Sometimes I wonder how this country functions at all.

So what is a unit? A KwH ( kilo watt hour) or some Thai made up thing like a Rai or Wah when it comes to Land.

16 minutes ago, Tailwagsdog said:

So what is a unit? A KwH ( kilo watt hour) or some Thai made up thing like a Rai or Wah when it comes to Land.

It's a kilowatt hour. I've never quite understood why they don't just say that, instead of using the mysterious word "unit". (They typically do the same with water consumption, where they say "unit" instead of cubic meter.)

1 hour ago, J Branche said:

Who comes up with these schemes.

So a house with 5 or 6 people living in it would be penalized even if each person used 100 units a month (500 or 600 units total) while one person consuming up to 200 units a month will benefit.

At least they are bringing awareness to energy conservation and changing some equipment to energy efficient equipment

Anyone consuming over 200 units per month certainly doesn't belong to the poor population... worth thinking about..................

I wonder of condo owners will pass this saving onto the tenants.

52 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

I've never quite understood why they don't just say that, instead of using the mysterious word "unit". (They typically do the same with water consumption, where they say "unit" instead of cubic meter.)

As I'm sure you would understand, the "they" in this instance is whoever is doing the translation from Thai in to English, not the Thai government.

2 hours ago, J Branche said:

So a house with 5 or 6 people living in it would be penalized even if each person used 100 units a month (500 or 600 units total) while one person consuming up to 200 units a month will benefit.

If you take in to account the widespread poverty that covers 70 or 80% of Thailand, you will find that the "200 units a month" may often be consumed by a family of 6 or more individuals.

1 hour ago, Tailwagsdog said:

So what is a unit? A KwH ( kilo watt hour) or some Thai made up thing like a Rai or Wah when it comes to Land.

A rai is no more 'a made up thing' than an acre. The official measurement of an acre (many centuries old) was finalised as part of the British Imperial System in the Weights and Measures Act of 1878, defined as 4,840 square yards. The rai has been the primary unit of land measurement in Thailand for centuries, originating from traditional agricultural practices. It is also commonly used in Laos (as lai) and Cambodia, indicating a shared regional history. In 1923, the Kingdom of Thailand officially adopted the metric system and at this time, the rai was standardised to equal exactly 1,600 square meters (400 square wah) to ensure it functioned alongside decimal measurements. So, in effect - both Thai and British land measurement history is not too dissimilar. This is particularly so as both the Thai rai and the British acre share a remarkably similar historical origin: both were originally defined by the amount of land a team of oxen could plow in a single day. I suspect that to foreigners living in the UK, the quaintness of having to deal with land measurement in terms of hectares, acres and square feet/metres is not too dissimilar to foreigners living in Thailand having to deal with rai, ngan and square wah (a rai being 1,600 square metres, a ngan 400 square metres, and a wah being 4 square metres). If you think in '4s' - it becomes second nature. Think of a wah as being the length of two tall men lying down at right angles (2m by 2m). Certainly simpler than multiplying by 4,047 to convert an acre to square metres, and by 2.47 to convert a hectare to acres. I'll take the rai unit of measurement any day, thanks .....

So if my power bill last month was Bt5000, then how much will I save next month?

3 hours ago, J Branche said:

Who comes up with these schemes.

So a house with 5 or 6 people living in it would be penalized even if each person used 100 units a month (500 or 600 units total) while one person consuming up to 200 units a month will benefit.

At least they are bringing awareness to energy conservation and changing some equipment to energy efficient equipment

When you consider how logistically unworkable it would be to calculate eligibility based on the number of people residing in the household and that the government was motivated to provide financial relief to hardest hit populations in a timely manner, the scheme they came up with doesn't seem that bad.

I'm pretty certain that there is a high correlation between <200 units/month and low household income. A bill for 200 units is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 baht.

42 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

So if my power bill last month was Bt5000, then how much will I save next month?

You will save zero as you use more than 200 units.

1 hour ago, mfd101 said:

If you take in to account the widespread poverty that covers 70 or 80% of Thailand, you will find that the "200 units a month" may often be consumed by a family of 6 or more individuals.

I suppose farangs who only mix with poor Thais will think that very hight number is correct as they have never mixed with the ones who are not poor.

Perhaps a lot of the farangs with this figure live in Isaan and so have a biased view of Thailand.

But in any case the poor Thais already get their electricity for free as has been the case for many years.

41 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

You will save zero as you use more than 200 units.

Thanks.

I needed that.

39 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

I suppose farangs who only mix with poor Thais will think that very hight number is correct as they have never mixed with the ones who are not poor.

Perhaps a lot of the farangs with this figure live in Isaan and so have a biased view of Thailand.

I'm sure that, mixing as you do only with rich Thais, your view of matters cannot be biased.

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

So if my power bill last month was Bt5000, then how much will I save next month?

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

So if my power bill last month was Bt5000, then how much will I save next month?

That's approx 1000kwh or more so like your rate will increase.

1 hour ago, Gecko123 said:

When you consider how logistically unworkable it would be to calculate eligibility based on the number of people residing in the household and that the government was motivated to provide financial relief to hardest hit populations in a timely manner, the scheme they came up with doesn't seem that bad.

I'm pretty certain that there is a high correlation between <200 units/month and low household income. A bill for 200 units is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 baht.

Yes.

This move seems to have been designed as support for low-income families.

As such, it seems a good step in the right direction.

It seems that the gov now realizes the importance of adding solar power generation to the mix.

This seems like another good first step in the right direction.

The gov needs to subsidize, to an extent, installation of solar generation, including loads, etc.

23 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

This move seems to have been designed as support for low-income families.

And those with solar.

Home solar that doesn't include batteries, or includes batteries that don't fully supply their usage, will likely be less than 200 units.

For just less than 200 units it will probably be 600THB instead of 1000THB, if the normal rate is 5THB per Unit.

33 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

The gov needs to subsidize, to an extent, installation of solar generation, including loads, etc.

Of course, I typed "including loans", and not "loads".

Strange that I normally do not have problems such as these "typos", which are occurring more frequently using this new text-processor of TV.

Or, am I finally going crazy?

Strangely enough, as well, that these "typos" do nor occur with such frequency when using Google DOCS.

Back in the day, if my memory serves me right, I think the text-editor was superior to that being used these days.

I might be mistaken.

Maybe I need to change my keyboard?

Maybe turn on the light in my room?

Maybe get a keyboard that is back-lit, but I do not look at the keybaord while typing.

Do I really need to first type in Google DOCs and then copy to the text-editor, here? What a waste of time.

If I were not paranoid, then I would not believe that the text editor here is actually altering my words, after posting.....as impossible as I know this is.

1 hour ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

I suppose farangs who only mix with poor Thais will think that very hight number is correct as they have never mixed with the ones who are not poor.

Perhaps a lot of the farangs with this figure live in Isaan and so have a biased view of Thailand.

But in any case the poor Thais already get their electricity for free as has been the case for many years.

Are you sure they get electric power provided for free?

I think not:

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Are you sure they get electric power provided for free?

I think not:

Try getting out and about and ask local human beings rather than so called AI!

4 hours ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

I suppose farangs who only mix with poor Thais will think that very hight number is correct as they have never mixed with the ones who are not poor.

Perhaps a lot of the farangs with this figure live in Isaan and so have a biased view of Thailand.

But in any case the poor Thais already get their electricity for free as has been the case for many years.

But wouldn't those of us who live in Isaan and, in your view, have a '...biased view of Thailand' think that number is correct because they are actually familiar with and understand the socio-economic majority of the population?

Isn't it those who are only familiar with a comparatively-small unrepresentative subset of the population who are disadvantaged here?

Free power for low-users ended a few years back.

It, and the low-user rate that replaced it, only applied if you have a weeny 5/15 meter anyway.

So, even those with solar, don't expect your rate to go down.

6 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

So if my power bill last month was Bt5000, then how much will I save next month?

More, this is communism now, they'll make higher prices for big users.

8 hours ago, Tranquility said:

A rai is no more 'a made up thing' than an acre. The official measurement of an acre (many centuries old) was finalised as part of the British Imperial System in the Weights and Measures Act of 1878, defined as 4,840 square yards. The rai has been the primary unit of land measurement in Thailand for centuries, originating from traditional agricultural practices. It is also commonly used in Laos (as lai) and Cambodia, indicating a shared regional history. In 1923, the Kingdom of Thailand officially adopted the metric system and at this time, the rai was standardised to equal exactly 1,600 square meters (400 square wah) to ensure it functioned alongside decimal measurements. So, in effect - both Thai and British land measurement history is not too dissimilar. This is particularly so as both the Thai rai and the British acre share a remarkably similar historical origin: both were originally defined by the amount of land a team of oxen could plow in a single day. I suspect that to foreigners living in the UK, the quaintness of having to deal with land measurement in terms of hectares, acres and square feet/metres is not too dissimilar to foreigners living in Thailand having to deal with rai, ngan and square wah (a rai being 1,600 square metres, a ngan 400 square metres, and a wah being 4 square metres). If you think in '4s' - it becomes second nature. Think of a wah as being the length of two tall men lying down at right angles (2m by 2m). Certainly simpler than multiplying by 4,047 to convert an acre to square metres, and by 2.47 to convert a hectare to acres. I'll take the rai unit of measurement any day, thanks .....

Now this is exactly what this forum is for, educating the members.

Thank you for a very precise and easy to understand explanation about something I had often wondered about, but was never curious enough, or maybe just too bloody idle to seeek an answer to...👍

2 hours ago, Peter Crow said:

More, this is communism now, they'll make higher prices for big users.

I think you can work that out by calculating your current Unit cost charged, and extrapollating the difference!

Seems like a dressing up of the situation. Larger properties, and bigger consumers will be subsidizing smaller ones. It will also push people towards solar and hence the PEA etc will be under less generation capacity issues.

I am inclines to think it was good while it lasted... my bills have always been reasonable but will now go up somewhat.

18 hours ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

You will save zero as you use more than 200 units.

Good for me though, the pollution reduced my solar input last month so my bill was a massive 500bht (125Kwhr), if it happens again my bill will only be 375bht ....... and that includes my electric car and electric mountain bike.

20 hours ago, khunjeff said:

They typically do the same with water consumption, where they say "unit" instead of cubic meter

Is that an American cubic metre or the rest of the world cubic metre?

Only joking 😂

On 4/30/2026 at 11:02 AM, mfd101 said:

As I'm sure you would understand, the "they" in this instance is whoever is doing the translation from Thai in to English, not the Thai government.

Yes and no. The Thai government (in the form of the MEA, and probably the PEA as well) uses "kWh" in English, but "unit" (หน่วย) in Thai.