Energy Conservation Promotion Fund

1.1 The Energy Conservation Promotion Fund (ENCON Fund) has been established under the Energy Conservation Promotion Act, B.E. 2535 (1992) which was effective since 3 April 1992. Article 24 of the ENCON Act stipulates that the capital and assets of the ENCON Fund will be from the following sources: money transferred from the Petroleum Fund at an amount determined by the Prime Minister; levies imposed on petroleum product producers and importers at a rate determined by the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC). Additional sources are surcharges on power consumption, government subsidies at times, remittances from the private sector in the country and abroad, and the interests incurred from the ENCON Fund. At the initial stage, on 24 August 1992, an amount of 1,500 million baht was transferred from the Petroleum Fund. In addition, the NEPC imposed a remittance rate of 7 satangs/litre on domestic gasoline, kerosene, diesel and fuel oil to raise revenue for the Petroleum Fund, effective as from 1 November 1992.

1.2 Following Article 4(4) of the ENCON Act, at the meeting ref. 4/2537 (No. 47) on 3 August 1994, the NEPC gave consent to the establishment of the Energy Conservation Program (ENCON Program) and set guidelines, criteria, conditions and priorities on the ENCON Fund allocation to be in line with Article 25 of the ENCON Act. In this regard, the Energy Conservation Promotion Fund Committee (ENCON Fund Committee) appointed under Article 27 of the ENCON Act is charged with management of the Fund allocation to achieve the objectives of individual implementation programs and projects. During the fiscal year period 1995-1999, the total allocation from the ENCON Fund was 19,286 million baht.

1.3 The ENCON Program during the fiscal year period 1995-1999 comprised three sub-programs (the Compulsory, Voluntary, and Complementary Sub-Programs) and ten main projects. In order to assist with the work of the ENCON Fund Committee, three Sub-Committees have been appointed to implement each respective sub-program. Besides, two government agencies, the National Energy Policy Office (NEPO) and the Department of Energy Development and Promotion (DEDP) have been given the task of the ENCON Program implementation, which can be classified according to the nature of the work/projects as follows:

Compulsory Program	Voluntary Program	Complementary Program
Existing designated factories and buildings Designated factories and buildings under designing or construction Existing non-designated factories and buildings Government buildings	Renewable Energy and Rural Industries Industrial Liaison Research & Development	Human Resource Development Public Awareness Campaign Management and Monitoring
Department of Energy Development and Promotion	National Energy Policy Office	National Energy Policy Office

1.4 Later, following the NEPC Announcement No. 1, B.E. 2540 (1997), dated 5 August 1997, on the Determination of Premium Rates for the Energy Conservation Promotion Fund Imposed on Domestically Produced and Imported Petroleum, the ENCON Fund revenue decreased as the premium rate was reduced to 1 satang/litre for diesel and kerosene during 1 August 1997–30 September 1998. Since 1 October 1998, the premium rate has been adjusted to 4 satangs/litre and imposed on gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and fuel oil.

Section 1: BACKGROUND