Thai PM urges all parties to seriously save power

BANGKOK, February 22 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged all parties to seriously save energy, as the Ministry of Energy is prepared for, probably declaring an energy emergency alert during Myanmar's one-week suspension of its gas supply for electricity generating in Thailand in April 2013, mainly for maintenance purpose. Yingluck made the call when she met heads of government offices at the level of permanent secretaries at the Office of the Civil Service Commission in Bangkok's suburban Nonthaburi province on Thursday. Yingluck, however, thanked government agencies, state enterprises and the private sector for having help conserve their power usage, in response to the government's requests to cushion impacts from the upcoming restraint of power supply in the country. Norkun Sitthiphong, Permanent Secretary for Energy, acknowledged that agencies and firms have cooperated well with the energy-saving campaign, particularly those in the public sector, as most of them could meet an official target of cutting power usage by 10 per cent. Norkun cautioned that April 5 is foreseen to be a hottest day and at that time the reserve margin in Thailand should stand at 750 megawatts or 2 per cent, while the appropriate margin should be 15%; so, if all parties in the country save energy, adverse impacts on the general public should be alleviated, urging all parties to, thus, continue cooperating on energy issues for the sake of long-term national energy security. Meanwhile, Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal told a House session that his ministry is considering to raise the energy emergency and to ask people to save their power consumption because the subsiding Yadana gas production platform in Myanmar will be closed for relocation and its gas pipelines will be maintained from April 4 to 12. The energy minister admitted that the platform relocation in Myanmar will, probably, require a longer suspension of gas supply from Myanmar although annual gas supply suspension for maintenance will be then unnecessary next year. (TNA)