Viraphol Jirapraditkul, director-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, said Thai consumers had used less energy this year due to the economic slowdown and volatile oil prices.

"Thanks to their awareness, energy consumption so far has expanded about 3 per cent, lower than GDP. If this consumption rate continues until the end of this year, the energy consumption to GDP ratio can fall below 1:1. This means a saving of Bt20 billion to Bt30 billion," Viraphol said.

GDP in the first quarter expanded 4.3 per cent year on year. Thailand last year spent Bt1.4 trillion on energy, with Bt500 billion to Bt600 billion spent on fuel oil.

Adul Chaiaroon, deputy director-general of the department, said that public-sector offices this year should be able to cut down energy consumption by 6 per cent, while next year the department would introduce an indicator to compare offices' consumption per square metre.

Kicking off a new energy conservation campaign yesterday, Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand said the ministry had launched a number of campaigns to raise public awareness and measures to improve the efficiency of electrical appliances.

"These measures will lead to a concrete drop in energy consumption, as compared to the early closure of shopping complexes or oil service stations, which did not raise awareness but just encouraged people to shop or fill up their tanks earlier than usual," he said.

The latest campaign aims to encourage Thais to consume energy in line with the sufficiency-economy philosophy. Bt45 million has been allocated to promote the campaign, which aims to cut consumption by Bt8 billion this year.

The Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Department has also been allocated a budget to promote energy consumption among small and medium enterprises.

The department is also revising regulations on the required efficiency of 11 types of electrical appliance including microwave ovens, irons, washing machines and kettles.

New industrial standards will also be issued.

"We expect that the new standards will reduce consumption of crude oil by 90,000 tonnes a year, or the equivalent of Bt2.64 billion per annum," Piyasvasti said.