“Pirapan” posts new oil price control law allowing traders to adjust prices once a month, up or down as they please.

Mr. Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, posted on his personal Facebook, revealing the progress of the new energy law, which allows traders to adjust prices once a month, up or down as they please. He stated, 'Hello, I would like to inform you about the progress of the new energy law for the public. Today, I called a meeting of legal and energy experts to review the details of the oil business regulation law that I have initially drafted, totaling 180 sections. This law will stipulate that oil prices can be adjusted once a month, not every day, and that prices can be adjusted based on the actual cost of oil. The Cost Plus system, which means a system that calculates prices based on actual costs, will be used instead of the international oil price reference system, and will also regulate the sale of cooking gas. This law will also allow transportation operators, public charity service providers, agricultural and fisheries cooperatives to procure their own oil for use becau se it is truly free trade. People must have the freedom to find their own energy. If operators can procure their own oil at a price cheaper than the price sold at the pump, they can proceed according to the legal criteria. When the oil cost burden of operators is reduced, they will not be able to claim that the transportation cost is expensive, which will lead to a reduction in product prices, which will reduce the burden on people in another way. I have been drafting this law since April 2024 after receiving preliminary information about the oil price cost that oil traders must declare for the first time in 50 years. I expect that the review of this draft law will be completed within this year, along with the law regulating the installation of solar rooftop systems. Please be assured that I will expedite the push for both of these laws, as well as other energy laws, to be enforced as soon as possible for the benefit of our people and to make the 'renovation, reduction, release, creation' of the Thai energy system for stability, fairness, and sustainability happen in a tangible way. -517 Source: Thai News Agency