Government Office Electricity in Thailand — and which tariff class state bodies actually sit in
People search “ค่าไฟหลวง” expecting a special government rate. Per the current MEA and PEA rate tables there is none — state offices are billed on the ordinary business classes and then split into small/medium/large by kilowatts. This page shows which class applies, what it costs per unit, and why the “Class 5” so many sites cite is not the government class at all.
There is no separate “government” electricity tariff. Both MEA's and PEA's rate tables place state offices, any other government body, local administrative organisations and state enterprises inside the ordinary business classes — Class 2 (small) / Class 3 (medium) / Class 4 (large) — split purely by highest 15-minute average demand. An ordinary government office below 30 kW therefore sits in Class 2 and pays the ladder 3.2484 / 4.2218 / 4.4217 THB per unit plus a 33.29 THB monthly service charge, then Ft 0.1623 THB/unit and 7% VAT — about 4.77 THB per unit all-in at 1,500 units a month. (Full tariff structure explains the rest.)
How much per unit does a Thai government office pay for electricity?
Actual monthly bill (Class 2 low voltage, Ft 0.1623 and 7% VAT included)
| Units / month | Energy (THB) | Total bill (THB) | Effective THB/unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 1,120.53 | 1,286.69 | 4.29 |
| 500 | 1,984.88 | 2,246.27 | 4.49 |
| 1,000 | 4,195.73 | 4,698.71 | 4.70 |
| 1,500 | 6,406.58 | 7,151.15 | 4.77 |
| 3,000 | 13,039.13 | 14,508.47 | 4.84 |
Every figure is computed at render from the ladder + the 33.29 THB service charge + Ft 0.1623 THB/unit (period Sep–Dec 2026) + 7% VAT — nothing is typed in. When the ERC announces a new Ft period the table moves with it. What Ft is and how it is calculated.
How does a government electricity bill differ from a household one?
What a government bill has that a household bill does not
Demand charge — Class 3 at low voltage bills 221.50 THB per kilowatt of the month's highest 15-minute average demand, separately from the energy rate (3.1751 THB/unit). One short simultaneous start-up of the chillers can therefore lift the whole month's bill.
Power factor and the minimum-charge floor
If the highest 15-minute reactive demand exceeds 61.97% of active demand, the excess is billed at 56.07 THB per kVAr, and the month's charge may not fall below 70% of the highest demand charge in the trailing 12 months. A government building closed for a long recess, or one that has moved out, therefore still owes a floor amount.
Government offices, temples, schools, foundations — which class is each?
Who sits in which class (per the utilities' own class definitions)
| User | Class | Deciding test |
|---|---|---|
| Government offices · any other state body · local administrations · state enterprises · embassies · international organisations | 2 / 3 / 4 | Under 30 kW = Class 2 · from 30 kW up to under 1,000 kW with a 3-month average of 250,000 units/month or less = Class 3 · 1,000 kW or more, or over 250,000 units/month = Class 4 |
| Temples · monastic residences · places of worship of every religion | 1 — residential | Named directly in the Class 1 definition; no kilowatt test |
| Organisations providing services without remuneration (foundations, charities) | 6 — non-profit | The definition expressly excludes state bodies, state enterprises, local administrations and foreign entities |
| Hotels · residential-rental businesses (30 kW and above) | 5 — specific business | This is what Class 5 actually is — the word “government” appears nowhere in it |
| Agricultural water pumps of government agencies · farming cooperatives | 7 — agricultural pumping | The one place “government agency” appears outside Classes 2/3/4 |
What does a non-profit organisation (Class 6) pay per unit?
How to check which class your organisation is on
Four steps, using paperwork you already have — no guessing.
1. Open the bill for that specific premises
The class attaches to the premises and that meter, not to the organisation as a whole — one agency with several buildings can legitimately sit in different classes. (Which number on the bill and on the meter is which.)
2. Read the month's peak demand
If the bill carries a demand line in THB per kilowatt, the site is already Class 3 or above; if there is none and energy is billed on a pure ladder, it is Class 2. Fractions of a kilowatt are rounded at the half: below 0.5 kW is dropped, 0.5 kW and above counts as 1 kW.
3. Compare against the 30 kW and 1,000 kW lines
The move is not symmetric: in any month peak demand reaches 30 kW, a Class 2 site is reclassified to Class 3/4/5 as applicable — but to go back down it must stay under 30 kW for 12 consecutive months, and still be under in the month after that.
4. If it does not match, ask the utility to review it
The class is assigned by the utility from how the premises are used — it is not a customer choice. If the classification does not match actual use, contact MEA 1130 (Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan) or PEA 1129 (elsewhere) with the reference numbers from the bill.
What this page does not cover
Who wrote this page, and against what
Frank Lee, Founder of CapSolar — a Thai commercial & industrial solar EPC with 80+ MWp installed across 150+ projects for 100+ clients, and over 85,000+ tons of CO₂ avoided. Every rate on this page was read from the tariff tables MEA and PEA publish themselves and cross-checked line by line between the two. Figures the utilities do not publish are not guessed here.
FAQ
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Thailand Electricity Tariff
How base tariff + Ft + VAT add up to the bill.
PEA vs MEA rates
Two utilities, one national base tariff — or not?
Six-figure monthly bills on an office building?
CapSolar reads 12 months of your actual bills and estimates, free of charge, how much rooftop solar would cut both your energy and demand charges. No obligation.