Trump’s pro-fossil fuel policies ‘will help cut electricity price’

US President Donald Trump’s policy on fossil fuels would offer opportunities for Thailand to reduce electricity prices, Sarath Ratanavadi, chief executive of Gulf Energy Development, said on Monday.

Speaking at the “Chula Thailand Presidents Summit 2025” at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, he said that Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s efforts to reduce electricity price would be possible from positive sentiment on fossil fuels.

Thailand’s cheapest source of electricity is from Mae Moh coal-fired power plant. Though it emits a large amount of carbon dioxide, it has a positive impact on the price of electricity, he said.

He said the price of natural gas remained stable because the Russia-Ukraine war has begun to end. Trump’s policy to promote gas and oil production would make electricity prices drop further, he said.Noting that green energy has been trending, especially solar and wind power on declining operation costs, he said Gulf has a lot of investment plans, such as gas-fired and combined-cycle power plants in the US and an offshore wind power plant in Britain. 

He admitted that a nuclear power plant is new for Thailand. We have seen that foreign nuclear investment has been delayed, so we think it is more appropriate for the government to invest, he said.

He expects demand for clean energy to increase along with advancement in its related technology, such as solar cells that now can generate a lot of electricity.

Sarath said Gulf has also invested in telecommunication, cryptocurrency, digital tokens, robotics and artificial intelligence to keep up with future trends driven by technology.

He expects more data-related businesses to come up as technology is playing an important role in people’s lives. Cryptocurrency experts believe that countries that do not work on digital currency would lose competitiveness to the US in drawing investment, he said.

He said Phuket has the potential to become a digital and cryptocurrency hub thanks to a large number of foreign arrivals. In the future, digital currency would be developed for purchasing large assets in Phuket, he added.



Sarath did not expect the global trade war to impact Thailand much because most of the Thai products were exported to China. The weakening baht would attract more foreign visitors to Thailand, he added.

He urged the government to tackle many issues, such as public and household debt, as well as issues on automobile distribution. 

“We have to admit that we have a lot of issues despite the advantages of tourism, so we have to adjust ourselves,” he said, adding that Thai economy and society can be developed together.

(2025/02/03-00:00)