INCENTIVES FOR VOLUNTARY POWER SAVINGS IN MARCH
Large electricity consumers who shut down their power consumption during a certain period from March 27-31 will be paid Bt3 per kilowatt-hour of saved power, says the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
ERC member Viraphol Jirapraditkul said Myanmar’s Yadana gas field was scheduled to shut down its production for nine days from March 25 to April 2 and that would reduce its gas flow to Thailand by 1,100 million cubic feet per day, affecting production from gas-fired power plants by 6,400 megawatts.
To minimise the impact from higher costs that will stem from the power plants having to shift to using higher-cost diesel fuel, the ERC will introduce its “demand response” measure to reduce power consumption during the period.
Large power users near the Ratchaburi, Tri energy, and South Bangkok power plants, as well as those in Teparak, southern Thon Buri, Bang Phli, and some central provinces that can cut their electricity consumption during peak hours from 9am to 10pm during weekdays from March 27-31 will be offered the compensation. The authorities have targeted saving 400MW of electricity from the measure, Viraphol said.
The ERC has joined forces with the Federation of Thai Industries and the three state-owned power utilities to introduce the programme.
POPULATION TRENDS DELIVER BOOST FOR JAPAN’S MICRO M&A BOUTIQUES
Boutique advisers specialising in micro mergers and acquisitions for mostly family-run firms are enjoying a boom in Japan, as an ageing and shrinking population brings in the boundaries on the country’s small-business landscape, according to a Reuters report.
The report said there were no industry-wide figures for deals between 500 million and 1 billion yen (Bt154 million and Bt308 million), but boutique advisers say they are benefiting as owners look to merge their businesses to cope with dwindling demand or as they reach retirement without a successor.
Japan’s population is projected to shrink by a third by 2060.
The Reuters report said that Nihon M&A Centre Inc, the largest of the three publicly listed boutique advisers, had reported that nine-month profits to the end of December had risen 34 per cent to a record 5.3 billion yen on sales of 15 billion yen.
“Japan’s population is shrinking ... Ultimately none of the small companies will be able survive by itself,” Reuters quoted Yasuhiro Wakebayashi, chairman and founder of the company, as saying.
“They have to be part of larger firms to grow. That is going to be a trend in this country, so the M&A market will only become bigger.”
Nihon M&A had 406 deals in the first nine months of the financial year ending in March, well on its way to beating the previous year’s total of 420.
Smaller rivals Strike Co and M&A Capital Partners are also capitalising on the trend, brokering a combined 106 deals in the last financial year, up 23 per cent on the previous year and 74 per cent on the year before that, Reuters reported.
