Power peak to marginally edge up: Egat
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Power consumption this year is expected to peak above 27,000 megawatts, slightly above last year's peak at 26,900MW, according to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.
Egat governor Soonchai Kumnoonsate assured all of no outage, given installed capacity of 33,000MW.
Due to economic slowdown, power consumption should expand by only 2 per cent against economic growth forecast of 3 per cent. In January, the consumption was 7 per cent lower than the same period last year while consumption in February was down by 3 per cent.
Meanwhile, Soonchai said that the law governing the state utility agency does not support the purchases of rice-related bonds.
He said that until February 25, there was no invitation from the Finance Ministry for Egat to join the bond auction.
He noted that by law, Egat is barred from extending a loan. Regarding the purchases of financial papers, such papers must be issued to finance generating-related purposes.
Meanwhile, he said, the political turbulence also delayed Egat's plan to launch the Bt17 billion infrastructure fund. This required the agency to finance its investment with cashflow. This year, Egat is committed to invest Bt39 billion and spend another Bt40 billion for power supplies from independent producers and fuels.
