BANGKOK, 22 February 2013 The Energy Ministry has come out to assure the people of Thailand that back-up plans have been prepared to deal with any power shortage, expected in April.
Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said on Thursday that he has already discussed worries over possible power shortage with the Federation of Thai Industries, who has agreed to advise all plants in the eastern seaboard to cut down their production and power use during April 5-14.
With gas supply from Myanmar set to be halted for pipeline maintenance during this period, Mr. Pongsak stated that the public should also play their parts in saving power.
If all measures work as hoped, the Energy Minister said that power outage may not happen as Thailand has power reserve of 1,500 megawatts in place.
However, the Energy Ministry has instructed oil-and-gas giant, PTT, to stock up bunk oil and diesel, which power plants may need for electricity generation.
Moreover, PTT was also ordered to import an addition of 5,000 tons of LPG and to prepare extra supplies of NGV to make sure there will not be any shortage of both types of gas.
Mr. Pongsak went on to brush aside claims that the Energy Ministry has been trying to make the halt of gas delivery from Myanmar more serious than it should, in order to pave way for more excuses to raise electricity bills and to build more power plants.
