Thailand's National Energy Policy Council has approved seven measures to cut household electricity costs, expand competition in the clean energy market and ensure large power users pay their fair share of electricity system costs.

The reforms include removing public electricity expenses, such as street lighting, from residential power bills and cutting the tariff for the first 200 units of household electricity to 3 baht per unit, according to a Wednesday announcement.

The council also agreed to expand direct renewable power purchase agreements beyond data centers, allowing more industries to buy clean electricity directly from producers through third-party access to the grid.

Separate electricity tariffs and infrastructure requirements will be introduced for data centres to prevent their costs from being passed on to other consumers. In addition, the council approved reforms to legacy renewable power purchase agreements and moved ahead with a 1,500-megawatt community solar programme under revised bidding rules to support wider access to clean energy.