BANGKOK, 26 February 2013 The Ministry of Interior has insisted that back up energy supply has been sought in the face of Myanmar’s planned temporary stop of its natural gas supply to Thailand from April 5-13, 2013.
Following concerns over a possible outage in some parts of the country, Interior Minister Jarupong Ruengsuwan made a joint statement with the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) as well as the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) saying that 4,000 megawatts of backup electricity has been produced and is sufficient for domestic use during the time when no gas supply is delivered from Myanmar.
There have been speculations that residents of Bangkok and those living in the southern region might experience power outages. Despite his confirmation of the energy supply, Mr Jarupong said that should there be an unprecedented event, the country’s power distribution plan will be adjusted to suit the situation.
He said that his Ministry has followed the Prime Minister’s instruction and is now trying to achieve the 10% reduction in energy usage. Meanwhile, the MEA stated that if the level of energy consumption remains normal, there will be no energy crisis. As for the industrial sector which normally requires an enormous electricity supply, the PEA said, manufacturers will be encouraged to avoid afternoon operations. And in a worst case scenario, blackout will be applied to no more than 2% of their entire industrial zone and limited to non-community areas on a short-term basis only. Such a blackout, if necessary, will be launched on April 5th.
