BANGKOK, March 6 – Thailand will be spared a power shortage during the maintenance of a natural gas platform in Myanmar April 5-14, the energy minister announced today.
Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said the Fuel Tariff (FT) charge at Bt0.48 per unit will remain unchanged.
His statement was hailed by power consumers and industrialists who have been concerned over a possible electricity outage when the Yanada gas platform, one of the major energy suppliers for Thailand’s electricity production, will be fixed and suspend operations April 5-14.
Mr Pongsak said power reserves for April 5 has been increased from 767 megawatts (MW) to 1,424 MW thanks to cooperation from 13 industrial groups under the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) which have jointly reduced power consumption by 408 MW.
The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand has also lowered its power usage by 83 MW while small power producers will boost their combined production by 110 MW, he said, adding that the initial plan to purchase 200 MW of power from Malaysia will be unnecessary.
He said the Energy Ministry will carry on its energy saving campaign and that the energy reserves will be increased by 1,674 MW if consumers and shopping outlets manage to reduce their consumption by another 250 MW.
FTI chairman Payungsak Chartsuthipol said the industrial sector will reduce power consumption in every manufacturing process while less important production will be temporarily suspended.
