Thailand's power consumption to hit 27,000 megawatts in April

BANGKOK, March 30 (TNA) - The state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand or EGAT has forecast that domestic power consumption should peak at 27,000 megawatts next month. EGAT's Deputy Governor Thana Putarungsi acknowledged on Friday that domestic power demand will rise by about 300 megawatts if temperature edges up by one degree Celsius. Thana reported that Thailand's power demand reached a peak on March 28, at 26,430 megawatts, and is likely to hit another peak next month, noting that rising temperatures and the growing national economy appear to attribute to the increasing domestic power demand. As neighbouring Myanmar will suspend its gas supply to Thailand from April 5-14, 2013, the EGAT deputy governor told journalists, meanwhile, that private entities have agreed to cut their power use during the period, while private power companies will raise their electricity production, which should raise the country' power reserve by 1,700 megawatts and should not, thus, be any power blackout as feared. The EGAT deputy governor, however, urged the public to help save energy consumtpion to also reduce the risk of a power blackout and to cut their power costs. (TNA)