Strategic Roadmap for Liberalizing Thailand’s Electricity Distribution Market : Part 6 Date : 6 January 2026 ### 8) A Sequenced Implementation Roadmap **Year 1 : Rulemaking + accounting separation** - Finalize enforceable TPA rules and standard contracts consistent with Thailand’s direction toward TPA development. - Require MEA/PEA accounting separation and publish cost allocation methods. - Stand up a compliance function for nondiscrimination monitoring. **Years 2–3 : Large-customer contestability + functional separation** - Enable large customers to choose suppliers/retailers and contract via TPA-enabled arrangements. - Implement functional separation and staff/process firewalls. - Launch a central switching/settlement platform for eligible customers. **Years 4–6 : Expansion to SMEs and households** - Scale switching and consumer protections. - Formalize aggregator participation and flexibility markets informed by sandbox learnings. - Introduce provider-of-last-resort and tighter retail conduct regulation. ### 9) Risks and Mitigations - **Risk: Cost shifting and tariff shock** - Mitigation: Transparent social tariffs funded explicitly; gradual reform; periodic tariff rebalancing. - **Risk: “Cream skimming” of profitable customers** - Mitigation: Universal service obligations; network charge design; POLR mechanism. - **Risk: Discrimination by incumbents** - Mitigation: Functional separation, audits, penalties, and transparent performance reporting. - **Risk: Reliability degradation due to poor settlement rules** - Mitigation: Strong imbalance settlement, technical standards, retailer credit requirements. To be continued————————————————————————————————————————————- #DistributionMarketReform #Thaitimes #ManagerOnline #News1