Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal is planning a visit to the proposed location of a new coal-fired power plant in Krabi to listen to the concerns of communities.
"I will go to see what they are worried about before deciding whether to move forward with that location," he said.
Under an Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) plan, the plant will have a capacity of 800 megawatts. The process has entered the public hearing stage.
Mr Pongsak said if most of the residents reject the power plant, the ministry must respect that, but he is worried about the security of electricity in the South, where capacity falls short of demand and the gap widens each year.
When demand for electricity increased to 2,200 MW on Tuesday, 14 southern provinces went without electricity for up to five hours.
With power generation in the region at only 1,620 MW, the southern provinces need to ask for 580 MW from plants in central Thailand and another 200 MW from Malaysia.
Egat governor Sutat Patmasiriwat said the new power plant in Krabi would serve rapidly rising demand in the Andaman Sea tourism area including Phangnga and Phuket provinces.
The local administration also supports the plant.
"If there is no new power-generating unit in the area, the Andaman Coast will still be insecure for electricity supply, as it will have to rely on power from elsewhere," said Mr Sutat.
"The longer the transmission lines, the more the loss of power output."
He said Egat is confident the new plant will use imported clean coal technology that will not harm the environment, tourism or agriculture.
In the long term, Egat will develop new power plants to meet rising demand.
The 800-MW Chana gas-fired plant will launch next year, the 900-MW Khanom gas-fired plant in 2016 and the 800-MW Krabi coal-fired plant in 2019.
Meanwhile, energy expert Manoon Siriwan said Egat and Malaysia's state-owned Tenaga Nasional Bhd should review the agreed output exchange rate, as the current price is too high.