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Economist
challenges Egat figures
Closure
'will have little effect on bills'
Bangkok
Post, June 2, 2000
Decommissioning
the Pak Moon dam would have a trivial impact on electricity prices, a
Kasetsart University lecturer said yesterday.
The
so-called Ft surcharge to be imposed on users, which will not exceed 0.06
satang per unit, or 0.3%, is affordable, said economics lecturer Decharut
Sukkumnoed,Egat has insisted hydro power is the cheapest available and a
shift to other sources would boost costs, which would be passed to the
public as Ft.
Mr
Decharut said the surcharge would be substantially lowered if electricity
could still be generated in the dam some seasons. "The 0.06 satang
surcharge is calculated in the scenario that the dam is completely
switched off. "However, the villagers mainly want generation halted
at Pak Moon during the season in which fish from the Mekong go upstream
and spawn. Generation could, perhaps, be resumed the rest of the year, if
it is deemed necessary," he said.
Mr
Decharut said he found Egat's fear of a security loss unconvincing.
"According
to Egat's statistics, there are times when the dam stopped generating and
there was no security problem, as claimed by Egat," he said.
He
noted that a halt made at larger power plants, such as Mae Moh in Lampang,
with more than 1,000MW capacity, and the 2,000MW Bang Pakong, never caused
problems for people in Ubon Ratchathani.
Mr
Decharut said there would be no problem if the 136MW Pak Moon dam was put
on hold.
In
addition, an Egat study suggested the country's electricity reserves,
which currently account for 5,000MW, could be increased through a
demand-side management (DSM), he said. "We have a DSM potential of
2,000-3,000MW and only 400-500MW has been achieved.
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