Shipper council wants clear govt info on power disruption

He said the government must state clearly if there would be a blackout. It must mention the locations that will be affected and the locations that faced a risk.

He said with the information and technology in hand, the Energy Ministry should be able to give complete information to business operators to enable them to devise effective measures to deal with the situation. 

He noted that not all factories in Thailand had a back-up electricity generator. If there was a blackout, this would affect their operations. 

He said business operators want to see the government’s plan for risk diversification in managing energy as electricity is a long-term cost for all businesses.

Meanwhile, he said the country’s exports in January were valued at US$18.269 (Bt548 billion), up 16.9 per cent year on year but only 0.93 per cent month on month.

The government and related state energy agencies are seeking support from business operators and factories to save energy as a strategy to tackle the power crisis caused by the Yadana gas field’s temporary shutdown in April. For instance, the Industry Ministry will seek cooperation from factories throughout the Kingdom by asking them to reduce their electricity consumption by 10 per cent this year. Some 70,000 manuals on energy-saving practices will be delivered to plants by the middle of next month, ahead of the halt in Myanmar’s natural-gas deliveries to the Kingdom between April 5 and 14.