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A diagram showing how much power Phuket must save or face unexpected cuts

Phuket Power Zapped for a Whole Month

Wednesday, May 28, 2014
PHUKET: Power rationing and unplanned electricity shortages will be imposed if Phuket fails to deal with a month-long cutback in supplies that officials have ordered in June and July.

Details of the potential crisis were revealed today with Phuket Governor Maitree Intrusud heralding a publicity campaign to slash 15 percent from the island's regular electricity usage, or face the consequences.

Officials listed Phuket's 10 largest users of electricity. Like the rest of the island's power addicts, the Top 10 have yet to be told of the coming cutbacks.

The attempt to avoid a crisis has been caused by essential maintenance work on the electricity network on the Thai-Malaysia border, with some southern provinces facing even larger reductions that Phuket's 15 percent.

The worrying time will come between June 13 and July 10 when the supply of natural gas from field A-18 in the Joint Development Area between Thailand and Malaysia in the Gulf of Thailand will be offline.

Phuket Electricity Authorities warned today at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall that unless the island's usage is cut by 15 percent then involuntary rationing will be applied across parts of Phuket so the island can cope.

Governor Maitree aims to concentrate on obliging the Top 10 users of power on Phuket to cut their bills. Smaller users will also be asked to help by reducing use of airconditioning and unnecessary lighting.

The Top 10 users of power on Phuket are, according to electricity officials:

1. Central Phuket Festival

2. Jungceylon (split bill)

3. AoT Phuket International Airport

4. REQ Water Service

5. SuperCheap

6. Phuket FantaSea

7. Laguna Banyan Tree Ltd

8. Bangkok Hospital Phuket

9. Eak Chai Distribution

10. Jungceylon (split bill)

Every day across the 14 southern provinces of Thailand, 2450 megawatts of electricity are consumed. But for the month-long essential maintenance, usage has to be reduced.

Phuket is by no means the worst affected, having to shave 15 percent of its power usage or face outages.

Songkhla province will have to cut usage by 29 percent while Surat Thani will be required to save 19 percent.

Some of the recommendations likely to come from the Phuket Governor's office will include only turning the airconditioning on at night, or increasing the temperature by several degrees during the day at least.

Consumption of electricity increases by six percent every year in southern Thailand. Officials say they hope to put the system of saving power to the test on Phuket on June 7.

Comments

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would leave no 8 alone

Posted by Michael on May 28, 2014 23:31

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The cinema in jungceylon is freezing cold!

Posted by Carty on May 29, 2014 04:39

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another army initiative , soon we will all be issued with uniforms and line up for early morning exercise classes !!

Posted by chris on May 29, 2014 07:50

Editor Comment:

Nothing to do with the Army. You are truly confused, chris. This ''power'' comes though the mains connection and supplies the electrodes for the treatment that perhaps you need.

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I worked in 1 of 2 gas fields in Myanmar from 2001-10. The gas was piped direct to Thailand for power station use. If the fields shut for maintenance, it caused huge problems for Thailand with electricity shortages. Clearly this is an old problem that the requisite authorities have not resolved. You cannot run at 100% power consumption without backup, but that is what Thailand has been doing for years.

Posted by Logic on May 29, 2014 08:36

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no worries Ed ,will be good that u get accustomed to no air cond just in case the general sides with the navy , he is after all trying to restore order and clamp down on poor reporting in the press !!

Posted by chris on May 29, 2014 08:39

Editor Comment:

We have never had air con, chris. We lead balanced lives, not sucking too much from the planet.

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I believe the WHO recommends air-cons to be set at 25.5 c - that would be a good start for all the freezing cinemas etc.

Posted by FrankieV on May 29, 2014 09:04

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The water service, airport and hospital are untouchable, although the hospital and airport could easily conserve 5-10% of their daily consumption. As for Jungceylon and Central, a reduction can easily be achieved by adjusting operating hours. Close earlier on some days, change the thermostat setting on the A/C an hour before closing. Honestly, another couple degrees warmer and people may be thankful. The malls are cold as it is. Or, how about cutting some of the illegal hookups or asking stores to close their doors so that they are not air conditioning the streets. Better yet, increase the cost of electricity for the power consumed over a certain level. The only incentive people understand is money.

Posted by Ryan on May 29, 2014 09:08

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Chris, how wrong you are. This was mentioned well before this coup. What it does highlight is the fact that for some reason, probably incompetence, it will take so long to repair. In most countries you would have two pipelines separated geographically. That old saying, "you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket," certainly rings true.

Posted by Laurie Howells on May 29, 2014 09:17

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I don't how the water services are in the top ten when most of the island only gets water a few hours a day.

Posted by rich on May 29, 2014 14:24

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The Airport immigration arrivals hall has been freezing cold as long as I can remember and all staff members wear jackets.

I'm sure the temperature could easily be raised by about 4 degrees with no adverse affects.

Posted by ThaiMike on May 29, 2014 14:46

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Thailand should build a strategic reserve for its gas/energies usage. Here some debt would bring the needed infrastructure with high payouts by reliable services.

Posted by Lena on May 29, 2014 17:18


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