The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has repaired its underground power cable and the electricity supply has resumed normal service on Samui and Pha-ngan islands since early Friday morning.
Chanchai Banditsaowapak, an assistant to the PEA governor, said the agency completed repair work on the power cable and resumed supplying power at 3.22am. Electricity was fully restored at 4.25am.
Samui and Pha-ngan islands, popular as foreign tourist attractions, have been without electricity since a high-voltage underground cable ruptured Tuesday morning.
Mr Chanchai said that the PEA staff took time to find out the location where the cable was damaged and the fixing was complicated as it was a big cable line.
He said that more time was needed to investigate how the cable burned but it was possibly due to overload as the tourism industry at Samui and Pha-ngan island has grown rapidly and the electricity demand was higher than previously.
Surat Thani governor Chatpong Chatputi declared Samui and Pha-ngan islands disaster zones to activate a Bt50 million emergency budget reimbursement to help relieve those affected by the blackout.
The Samui Tourism Association said the blackout severely impacted the two popular resort islands, and a large number of Thai and foreign tourists abruptly cancelled their holidays and left the island. (MCOT online news)
via Power supply resumes normal service on Samui, Pha-ngan islands: PEA | MCOT.net.
