The Nation August 13, 2000

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) misled the public when it said that the Pak Mool protest was behind its recent electricity-rate increase of three satang per kilowatt-hour, the Assembly of the Poor said yesterday.

Egat assistant governor Chalermchai Ratanarak said on Friday that the fuel adjustment (Ft) rate increase was a result of the opening of the Pak Mool Dam gates, a move the protesters had demanded, which forced the agency to import electricity from Laos at a cost of Bt350 million.

The variable Ft rate is one of two rates that comprise the total electricity charge to consumers.

The assembly said that Egat's claim was implausible.

"Even if the dam gates were open all year long, it would affect the Ft rate by only Bt0.0038 [a kilowatt-hour], according to an energy economist's calculation," the assembly said in a press statement.

"If Egat's energy cost was high, it may be because of its inefficient management or extravagant spending," the statement said.

Egat is using groundless allegations to mislead the public about the protesters, the assembly said.

"The National Energy Policy Committee had announced the cause of the rate's increase as being due to the increase in the price of oil. Egat should be ashamed of itself for trying to make the protesters the scapegoat," the assembly said.

Yesterday afternoon after a Mother's Day ceremony, two university groups brought food and donated money to the protesters.

Thammasat University's Dom Ruam Jai group gave the protesters 15 sacks of rice and donated Bt3,500, while Mahidol University's Phuen Mahidol donated Bt23,500.

Both groups said they support the protesters because of their bravery in challenging the government and fighting for structural social reforms, which are urgently needed.

"We have asked the government to seriously consider the protesters' proposal," said a member of the Phuen Mahidol.

Meanwhile an assembly protester who was three months pregnant had a miscarriage on Friday nightafter last month climbing up and down the Government House's fence.

Chaiyaphum resident Sompan Kheundee, 31, who has been taking care of hunger strikers, was travelling by train back home to visit her three-year-old son when she started bleeding.

She was admitted to Kaeng Khoi hospital, where her condition remains unstable.