The privatisation of Thailand's Electricity Generating Authority (egat) has been a bone of contention for the Thai government. Recently, the Supreme Administrative Court (sac) of Thailand ordered a temporary halt to egat's initial public offer (ipo) while deliberating a suit filed by a federation of consumers. The suit called for the abolition of two decrees concerning the privatisation of egat.

At first, egat's labour union opposed the government's attempt to privatise the utility and was successful for a while. But later, egat, under government instructions, gave egat workers a chance to buy shares at par value, winning over the union.

Despite opposition, the government pushed for an egat ipo in November. Environment groups and some opposition Democrat Party mp s demanded to know if listing egat would give private agencies control over the assets of the public utility