Egco approves payment

The energy tax charged on power plants will be contributed into a community development fund.

Wuthichai Sithipreedanant, senior vice president for corporate communications, said the scheme demonstrated the sincerity of its investment in power plants. If people who live near power plants realised the importance of the fund and participated in community development, this would reduce resistance to building plants.

Wuthichai said new plants should be up to standard and have no environmental impact on the community.

In principle, Egco will pay the energy tax for new plants if it wins the bidding for independent-power-plant (IPP) projects.

The payment will be broken down into two periods: construction and commercial operations.

Wuthichai said that during the construction period, it would pay Bt12 million per year for a 400-megawatt power plant, rising to Bt21 million for a 700MW plant, Bt24 million for 800MW and Bt48 million for 1,600MW.

For the period of commercial operations, Egco will pay another Bt25 million a year for a 400MW plant, Bt45 million for a 700MW plant, Bt51 million for 800MW and Bt103 million for 1,600MW.

The fund would be used for activities beneficial to communities to compensate for any damages caused by the plant, to promote and develop local occupations and the community's quality of living, and to support education, culture, sports, music, public health and the environment. Development of renewable energy sources would also be included in the project.

Watcharapong  Thongrung

The Nation