Provinces feel the pinch of fuel crisis

The appliances must be turned off all day on rainy days. Meeting times should also be shortened to save energy, he said.

After meeting with office heads, he urged those of them who live nearby to walk or use bicycles to work.

"We will evaluate which office saves the most energy bills every month," he said, adding he would also ask private firms and state enterprises to do their part to save energy.

In Satun, school enrolment had dropped. Many parents in the fishing industry who had suffered financial setbacks from high fuel costs can no longer send their children to school, said the Office of Basic Education Commission.

Khunying Kasama Voravarn na Ayudhya, secretary-general of the office, said though students showed up in the first month, some had stopped coming to classes.

Schools are now assigned to help provide travelling expenses and lunches for the secondary school students, as more are expected to drop out in the next 6-12 months.

In Chaiyaphum, over 29 fuelling stations have shut in past months and many more face closure.

 Nikom Dejporn, the provincial energy official, said operators complained about high operating cost, servicing debt at high interest rates while gaining meagre returns from petrol sales.

"I tried to convince them to temporarily close services as re-entering the business will require a huge investment," he said.

In Narathiwat, the number of locals filling up petrol tanks in Malaysia had plunged after the country ended subsidies, pushing petrol prices up by 40-55 per cent.

One man said it does not pay to fill up in Malaysia now as Thais can only buy for up to 20 ringgit (Bt200) per trip, while queues at the stations are half an hour long.

Thais can now buy only 7 litres of diesel, down from 13 litres, and 6 litres of premium petrol, down from 11 litres previously.

Thai petrol stations along Tak Bai border now serve more vehicles, with daily turnover rising by Bt100,000 to Bt250,000 per station.

To help locals, Kan Trang City in Trang plans to offer free ferry service to non-motorists and a 20-30 per cent reduction in service fees for vehicles for 3 months.

Pairoj Sae-see, deputy mayor of Kan Trang municipality that owns the car ferry service, said it generates Bt4 million profit a year and that was enough to cover rising oil prices.

Buses in Muang district, Nakhon Rachasima, plan to raise fares by Bt1 to Bt9, on June 16. Operators earlier said they needed to raise fares by Bt1.5 to survive.

The rise in bus fare followed a meeting between top provincial officials and bus operators on Friday.

The meeting was chaired by provincial governor Suthee Makboon.