The energy regulator wants businesses to lower their power consumption by another 100 megawatts for the rest of this week during the supply disruption of natural gas from Myanmar.
Pallapa: Gas crunch requires conservation
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) expects electricity demand to be high from Jan 8-10 as most manufacturers resume production after the New Year holidays. Then consumption should slow the coming week due to the planned shutdown by anti-government protesters.
Natural gas from Myanmar's Yetakun and Yadana blocks is expected to be disrupted from Dec 31 to Jan 14, with a combined amount of 1.1 billion cubic feet per day, or about a quarter of gas consumption in Thailand.
The disruption will affect power plants that generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity, accounting for 14% of the power consumed in the country.
ERC commissioner Pallapa Ruangrong said seven large electricity consumers agreed last week with its call to cut power consumption by a total of nearly 100 MW, but another 100 MW cut is required to prevent a possible blackout during the gas disruption. The seven operators comprise Siam Construction Steel Co, Thanakorn Vegetable Oil Products Co, Tesco Lotus, Central Pattana Plc, Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon, Siam Makro and Big C.
"We are waiting for more businesses to join in cutting back," said Mrs Pallapa.
She said the ERC might propose a new government introduce a rebate as an incentive to lower power consumption in April as the gas supply from the Gulf of Thailand would be disrupted, and in June when the supply from the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area is disrupted.
"In any emergency that could lead to a possible brownout or blackout, businesses that join the programme would be required to turn on their stand-by generators immediately," said Mrs Pallapa. "We should not only depend on volunteers, as we should have incentives for businesses to take part."