WHAUP Appoints New CEO to Drive Utilities Business

Bangkok – WHA Utilities and Power Plc (WHAUP) has announced the appointment of Mr. Somkiat Masunthasuwun as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective on May 1, to grow the utilities business (water and power) both inside and outside WHA Group’s industrial estates. Mr Akarin Prathuangsit was also appointed Chief Operating Officer to handle operations in Thailand and overseas. The new CEO will continue business expansion locally and abroad to build sustainable growth while developing new solutions for utilities and renewable energy.

WHA Utilities and Power Plc (“WHAUP”) informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand that its Board of Directors passed a resolution to appoint Mr. Somkiat Masunthasuwun as Chief Executive Officer, effective on May 1, 2022, with goals to move the business forward based on strategies to extend utilities and power investments in several formats including green filed projects, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) both inside and outside WHA Group’s industrial estates in Thailand and overseas. The focus is on the development of solutions for utilities and renewable energy businesses. WHAUP aims to follow WHA Group’s policy to become a technology company in the next three years, reaffirming confidence in its future business growth.

Ms. Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, Chairman and Group CEO of WHA Corporation PCL, said: “Mr. Somkiat Masunthasuwun has vast experience and expertise in the power business to serve as new CEO of WHA Utilities and Power Plc. (“WHAUP”). I am very confident that he will drive the company to achieve its goals and will be able to carry on the investment plan to grow the utilities and power businesses successfully in Thailand and overseas. Moreover, he will develop new renewable energy solutions to achieve WHA Group’s objectives, which aim to build a sustainable business growth in the long term.

WHAUP has also appointed Mr. Akarin Prathuangsit as the new Chief Operating Officer, in charge of WHAUP’s operations both domestically and internationally.  This will help strengthen WHAUP’s management team and enable it to support the utilities and power investment expansion both inside and outside WHA Group's industrial estates.

Mr. Somkiat Masunthasuwun, WHAUP’s Chief Executive Officer, said that he felt honored and very pleased to join WHAUP under the WHA Group. With more than two decades of experience and expertise in the energy industry, he is determined to ensure that WHAUP will achieve its goals, in line with the 5-year strategic plan (2022 - 2026) to seek investment opportunities in the Utilities business, as well as develop several renewable energy projects both domestically and internationally. This is in line with the idea to jointly ​develop projects with partners to strengthen the businesses. The goal is to achieve total revenue and normalized profit sharing of THB 6,000 million, while maintaining EBITDA profit margin of over 50 percent from the growth of its core business (water and power) under the 10-billion-baht investment budget for supporting business expansion in the next 5 years. This consists of:

Utilities Business: The company plans to use approximately 50% of its 5-year total investment budget to expand the water business in vertical Integration by exploring alternative raw water resources to ensure stability and manage the cost of purchasing raw water. It will also extend the development of the Wastewater Reclamation project for reusing treated wastewater. The project has received very good response both in terms of customer satisfaction, environment preservation, and using technology to develop new products based on the company's expertise to produce value-added water such as demineralized water and premium clarified water. Furthermore, additional investments in Smart Utilities Service Platform and new solutions have been applied to improve operational efficiency and deliver customer services in a more integrated manner.  In 2022, the company targets to achieve 128 million cubic meters of domestic water sales and management, and 25 million cubic meters overseas, representing a growth rate of 13% from the previous year.

Power Business: The Company will focus on expanding its portfolio of solar power projects and other forms of renewable energy projects both domestically and internationally. In 2022, it has set the target to have accumulative sales of solar power contracts at 150 megawatts, up from 92 megawatts in the previous year. This will increase the power capacity according to shareholding equity up to 700 megawatts.

In addition, WHAUP will continue preparing for the future of solar energy business through the development of several technologies such as Smart Energy platform for solar energy trading among customers within WHA's industrial estates, or Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading system in cooperation with PTT Public Company Limited and Sertis Company Limited to jointly develop a trading platform called “RENEX”, using Blockchain technology to enhance transaction security and facilitate energy trading among entrepreneurs in industrial estates. The project received cooperation from the Provincial Electricity Authority and is part of the Energy Regulatory Commission’s Energy Innovation Experiment Project or ERC Sandbox.  It is currently in the final preparation stage to do trial commercial trading services. Commercial trading is expected to officially kick off in Q2/2022. Once the power trading system is completed, it is believed that it will be a factor supporting WHAUP’s renewable energy portfolio to grow substantially.

WHAUP CEO concluded that aside from its aforementioned plans, the company has also introduced the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) which will be used together with the solar energy power production, and proposed as another service to customers.  It is also conducting the study of the Smart Microgrid system to enhance the utilities system within WHA's industrial estates to extend the renewable energy business portfolio and create a new business model for the company. Therefore, the CEO intends to manage and drive WHAUP as a business organization towards substantial growth, along with the steady growth of WHA Group.