The Ministry of Energy proposed only three energy
conservation measures to the cabinet for a final approval, according to a
senior Energy Ministry official.
The three measures, proposed before the cabinet at its
weekly meeting last Tuesday, included shortening service hours at petrol
stations, switching off neon billboards and providing certain parking lots
for taxis at shopping centres, bus terminals and train stations to reduce
their empty-trips, said the permanent secretary for energy, Cherdpong
Siriwit.
“The shorter service hours of petrol stations, from
being closed from midnight to 5 a.m. to closing them from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.,
will help reduce fuel use by 5 percent. However, petrol stations on main
highways will still be allowed to open until midnight to facilitate
commercial trucks running across provinces,” he told journalists.
“Switching off neon billboards at 9 p.m. and providing
certain parking spaces for taxis at shopping malls and transport terminals
to reduce fuel waste from their empty-trips are also believed to help save a
lot of energy,” he added.
Cherdpong confirmed that other proposed measures,
including announcing every Monday as an additional weekly holiday, while
extending office hours on Tuesdays to Fridays by two more hours, as well as
imposing more excise duties on vehicles with engines larger than 1800 CC and
stopping TV broadcasts at midnight, were not tabled before the cabinet on
July 11.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Energy talked of
submitting a wider package of 12 energy conservation measures before the
cabinet, including the change of working hours and days, the increase in
excise tax levied on the larger vehicles and the shorter TV service hours.
“We proposed only the three measures, out of 12 earlier
worked out jointly by the Ministries of Energy and Finance, as we don’t
want the energy saving drive to affect employment in the business sector and
the overall Thai economic prospects,” said the senior energy ministry
official. (TNA)
