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- Title
EVALUATING THAILAND'S FREE BASIC ELECTRICITY PROGRAM.
- Authors
Wibulpolprasert, Wichsinee; Teveyanan, Bhawin; Osataphan, Tanyathorn
- Abstract
This study evaluates the performance of Thailand's Free Basic Electricity (FBE) program in three dimensions: targeting effectiveness, benefit adequacy, and subsidy burden distribution. While FBE benefits reach the targeted population (low-income families) quite well, benefit leakage to the non-targeted population could result in a significant increase in the cost of the overall subsidy. Furthermore, the current 50-unit free quota afforded under the FBE program is insufficient for meeting the basic needs of many low-income families. Lastly, while the FBE subsidy burden falls exclusively on industrial/commercial customers, the increased cost they bear is rather small. Therefore, Thailand's FBE program could be markedly improved by introducing a more effective targeting approach in order to reduce leakage, which would enable the government to raise the free electricity quota while maintaining the same cost of the overall subsidy.
- Subjects
SUBSIDIES; POOR communities; ELECTRIC power consumption; TRADE regulation; STRAY currents
- Publication
TDRI Quarterly Review, 2018, Vol 33, Issue 1, p4
- ISSN
0857-2968
- Publication type
Article