Thai NRC subcommittee on electricity suggests switching to TOU electricity meters

[webfact]

NRC subcommittee on electricity suggests switching to TOU electricity meters

BANGKOK: -- The National Reform Council (NRC) subcommittee on electricity reform has proposed that the public switch to using Time of Usage (TOU) meters in order to reduce utility costs.

According to Chalee Charoensuk ชาลี เจริญสุข, Spokesperson of the NRC subcommittee on electricity reform, the subcommittee, based on its assessment of the increasing that households' financial burden caused by increasing electrical bills, has concluded that a switch from a Watt-Hour meter to a Time of Usage (TOU) meter would help families lower their electrical uses during peak-hours, enabling them to make adjustments in order to save energy.

Peak hours are during 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, during which electricity costs between 6-7 Baht per unit, whereas the rate for non-peak hours is only slightly higher than 2 Baht per unit. Currently up to 20 million households in Thailand are reportedly using the Watt-Hour meters, while only around 100,000 households use the TOU meters. The committee believes switching to TOU meters would help the people efficiently manage energy consumption in their households.

Although the TOU meters are costlier than their Watt-Hour meter counterparts, they would help users save money in the long run, effectively contributing to the country’s reduction in electricity consumption.


-- NNT 2014-12-15

[billd766]

I think that would work but only for those people who were out of the house all day working but for most people it wouldn't make much difference.

[noahvail]

Does anyone know how much this meter costs, installed?

[RKASA]

" they would help users save money in the long run" this never results in savings - just meter sales hype. If you reduce use the income falls and the rate rises anyway. Power has a large infrastructure cost to fund plus fuel or source. Also all those new meters - what a costly nightmare without result other then a new way to abuse users in the future with rate changes targeted at what you may think is the other guy - but you will pay it somewhere.anyway.

If you really want people to use less then charge more all the time. It is what it is - just pay the damn fright and be on with it. KISS

[Anthony5]

" they would help users save money in the long run" this never results in savings - just meter sales hype. If you reduce use the income falls and the rate rises anyway. Power has a large infrastructure cost to fund plus fuel or source. Also all those new meters - what a costly nightmare without result other then a new way to abuse users in the future with rate changes targeted at what you may think is the other guy - but you will pay it somewhere.anyway.

If you really want people to use less then charge more all the time. It is what it is - just pay the damn fright and be on with it. KISS

In Thailand the rate per KwH raises the more you use, not the opposite as you suggest.

Last time I checked it was 20.000 Baht for such a TOU meter, so long way to go before you start saving.

[chainarong]

All this does is shift your heavy usage time to off peak time , between 1Am and 4am so if you want a dinner cooked by electricity , you can cook at 2Am , The message I convey is don't get sucked into these u-beaut gizmos, as anybody can cook at 2 Am, all this meter tells you is off peak times and if you really want to save just turn your power off at the front switch.

[RKASA]

" they would help users save money in the long run" this never results in savings - just meter sales hype. If you reduce use the income falls and the rate rises anyway. Power has a large infrastructure cost to fund plus fuel or source. Also all those new meters - what a costly nightmare without result other then a new way to abuse users in the future with rate changes targeted at what you may think is the other guy - but you will pay it somewhere.anyway.

If you really want people to use less then charge more all the time. It is what it is - just pay the damn fright and be on with it. KISS

In Thailand the rate per KwH raises the more you use, not the opposite as you suggest.

Last time I checked it was 20.000 Baht for such a TOU meter, so long way to go before you start saving.

Yes I know that - but if use is reduced over all as in conservation efforts system wide the rates have to rise - it is not the same relationship as your billing. It is not the point - the indexing of rates is vary different then what they want to do. You will still be indexed and in addition to that time controlled rates will be applied and it will become another politic and bureaucratic mess - or don't you have enough of those already.

[Tep]

" they would help users save money in the long run" this never results in savings - just meter sales hype. If you reduce use the income falls and the rate rises anyway. Power has a large infrastructure cost to fund plus fuel or source. Also all those new meters - what a costly nightmare without result other then a new way to abuse users in the future with rate changes targeted at what you may think is the other guy - but you will pay it somewhere.anyway.

If you really want people to use less then charge more all the time. It is what it is - just pay the damn fright and be on with it. KISS

In Thailand the rate per KwH raises the more you use, not the opposite as you suggest.

Last time I checked it was 20.000 Baht for such a TOU meter, so long way to go before you start saving.

Yes I know that - but if use is reduced over all as in conservation efforts system wide the rates have to rise - it is not the same relationship as your billing. It is not the point - the indexing of rates is vary different then what they want to do. You will still be indexed and in addition to that time controlled rates will be applied and it will become another politic and bureaucratic mess - or don't you have enough of those already.

System generation costs are calculated differently than residential bills. Power pricing is on a cost plus basis with fuel price pass through. Residential bills are calculated to include all costs including transmission, distribution and the operating costs of the utilities and smooth price fluctuations over the billing cycle. There are also multiple categories of end user tariffs and multiple bands within those categories based on usage.

Time of Use charging has been operating in Thailand since the late 90's. I think the 1996 price review introduced this. It is almost exclusively been utilised by commercial and industrial users. The only person I knew who used TOU tariffs for residential was the Director of Power Economics Department at the Provincial Electricity Authority who clearly benefited from insider knowledge. This was a few years ago also. There may be one or two other TOU residential users. There is a complicated application process to switch from standard billing to TOU rates.

Your statement that reduction in power usage through 'conservation' (also known as Energy Efficiency or EE) will increase rates is not correct. Generators are dispatched on a least cost merit order basis. The cheapest plants are dispatched first with more expensive plants dispatched to meet increased lost. There are special very expensive plants called 'peaking plants't that only operate to meet peak demand. They are expensive because of their fuel but also because they operate intermittently. They are specially designed to come on line or 'ramp up' quickly.

Any reduction in system usage will result in more use of cheaper generation plant and subsequently cheaper ystem costs.

EE is being sold around the world as an active business to save utilities money. Companies sign up customers who agree to reduce their power usage on demand either manually (for big power consumers like factories) or automatically (for homes and appliances using smart meters that can be remotely controlled). Making use of EE can reduce the load making the system costs cheaper. It also can avoid the need to build new power plants, particularly expensive peaking plants. You get compensated for reducing your load and the existing infrastructure is used for efficiently. This is only really possible with smart meters in network wide scales.

Tariff setting, billing and settlements in the wholesale and retail sub sectors is a well understood, well defined process. It is data driven and the data is collected and analysed by the utilities who make tariff applications to the Energy Regulatory Commission on a regular cycle. The ERC has issued licenses to all 48 of EGAT's generators as well as to EGAT's transmission and MEA & PEA's distribution and supply businesses. Each license requires the collection and reporting of data to be used for tariff calculation and monitoring of quality of service and system reliability.

[bangrak]

Wouldn't it have been more profitable, for the Thai population, to think first about how to improve the electricity distribution net in Thailand, AND to deliver electricity of a decent quality (no too low Voltages, availability of rated kVAs, no more hundreds of 'drops' a day), which in fact cost the citizens, and companies many hundreds(!) of Billions in damaged or broken electrical appliances, electronic goods, and light 'bulbs'...

One could also think about the 'eradication' of corruption inside the electricity distribution company, like among the higher jobholders in local directions of 'juicy' areas (those pay big money too to get such a job, why, if not...?).

Oh, and about the maths, let's say 20,000,000 households X 20,000 Baht per meter = 400 BILLION Baht, guess these NRC 'mandarins' didn't even give this one single thought, locked up in their ivory tower as they are...!

[FangFerang]

Telling people in a sweltering, blistering tropical climate to wait until 2 AM to turn on the aircon is like hiring Lucifer to sell ice.

[elgordo38]

All this does is shift your heavy usage time to off peak time , between 1Am and 4am so if you want a dinner cooked by electricity , you can cook at 2Am , The message I convey is don't get sucked into these u-beaut gizmos, as anybody can cook at 2 Am, all this meter tells you is off peak times and if you really want to save just turn your power off at the front switch.

Turn the country into a bunch of Night Owls

[fforest1]

(TOU) meters also known as smart meters.

Many many people claim their electric bill went up after the installation of these meters..

I do not much about them but lots about them on the internet under smart meter...

[Nuddy]

The timing type meters work in other countries and I can quote personal experience in Australia but this is Thailand

The problem here seems to be that the Energy mob have said the peak time is 9:00 am to 10:00 pm.

This seems a bit incompatible with my life style.

​Maybe its the temperature and the use of air conditioners that push that peak out late at night.

However are they being true about this peak timing because I wouldn't put it past them to fudge that to make the timing meter ineffective.

By the way I have been here ages and had electricity meters in my wife's name many times and its the first I ever heard that they had these meters.

Like all good stuff for the consumer these guys just bury it away so no one can find out about it.

Regards

[Don Aleman]

Thailand is pissing away millions just on the meetings for several " blue Sky " proposed projects which will not be completed, if ever, in the lifetime of anyone reading this so why don't they : Make mandatory 8 foot ceilings on all new construction & false ceilings put in older buildings, ( save at least 20 % on air. con. costs. ), and offer free low energy light bulbs in exchange for every incandescent bulb turned in, ( millions ). Ban 35 watt circular lighting fixtures

35 watt and replace with floor level lighting and low energy bulbs -- can't really read or do any writing with bulb 12 feet up anyway.

[jacko45k]

Well I hope they keep a better track of the time than many of my devices within the house do.Which I guess stems from low mains frequency.

They would also need to be able to survive being in the sun and rain as of course many are stuck on poles outside. (Mine blew up once).

But it sounds like a good idea, anything to bring down my bill which creeps ever up despite my efforts. My major consumption is night-time (AC), and some other things could be adjusted to run at night more. I may even consider a hot water tank with a timer on it.