Policymakers have warned that energy efficiency has dropped compared with last year as plummeting global oil prices, which led to lower energy prices in general, have discouraged consumers from saving energy.
The Energy Policy and Planning Office (Eppo) reported yesterday that the energy intensity (EI) ratio stood at 8.38 kilotonnes of oil equivalent per 1 billion baht of GDP in the first half of this year, slightly higher than the average of 8.21 ktoe reported for the whole of 2014.
As a result, the EI ratio continued its downward trend seen over the past few years, sliding from 8.54 in 2010 to 8.50 in 2011 and hitting its lowest level last year.
However, the energy consumption pattern has changed since oil prices start falling in late 2014 and energy demand started to rise substantially. In contrast, demand for gas dropped mainly because of the government's policy to float retail prices of compressed natural gas as well as liquefied petroleum gas, which pushed up the retail prices of the retail prices of the gas.
Although global oil prices remain low, Eppo still urged consumers to continue their energy-saving habits, saying it is a crucial issue that should be recommended to businesses to monitor the volume of energy usage on a monthly basis.