Thais will be asked to switch off air-conditioners at lunchtime and extra lights in the evening as part of an emergency conservation campaign to curb rising energy consumption, which has been blamed for the country's widening trade deficit.

Thailand's energy import bills have skyrocketed this year, a result of high global oil prices and surging import volumes. The country's oil bill for the first-quarter of this year was about $4.41bn, 64 per cent up from the $2.7bn in the first quarter of 2004, according to Phatra Securities. While part of the increase was due to a 41.6 per cent difference in the average oil prices from the two periods, Phatra said this year's surging bill also implied a 20 per cent jump in import volumes.