Published on January 11, 2006

Made locally

BMW Thailand commenced this year with the introduction of a locally built BMW X3 2.5i into the Thai market.

Customer booking for the model starts today at all authorised BMW dealers nationwide. Delivery of the X3 to customers is scheduled to start this month. BMW Thailand expects the X3 to sharpen BMW market performance even further.

The locally built X3 2.5i comes in two versions: standard and SE (Special Edition), priced at Bt3.5 million and Bt3.8 million, respectively.

– The Nation.

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Electricity: Demand dims

Electricity demand has fallen significantly this year, due to the economic slowdown, says a member of the industry’s regulatory body.

Vichit Lohjirachun, a member of the Electricity Regulatory Board, said yesterday that initial findings had found that power demand was dropping remarkably, and now the annual demand increase was expected to fall to only 1,200 MW, down from a previously estimated 1,600 MW. That would roughly mean the country needed two new power generation units each year.

Nonetheless, in order to have an accurate power-demand forecast, the government recently assigned the National Institute of Development Administration to commission a study in regard to long-term trends of the country’s electricity consumption.

Metta Banterngsuk, director-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, said the results, which should be known in two months, would be used to reformulate the national load forecast models.

The new load forecast will be used to set out the amount of electricity that would be opened for bidding under the so-called Independent Power Producers programme, slated for late this year. – The Nation.

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