OPINION

Power price trap

Re: "Power tariff faces trim of 17 satang", (Business, Jan 17).

Thai electricity is already cheap. Few homeowners care about weather-stripping doors and windows. There is more public concern about keeping children warm inside shopping malls.

Thailand is an energy importer. To suggest that the government can dictate energy prices is a fantasy. Dropping prices from 4.15 to 3.70 baht per kilowatt hour means less incentive to use electricity wisely and less incentive to be proactive. Solar installation in sunny Thailand needs to be a priority if we are serious about clean energy. My Phuket solar installation has an estimated payback period of 7 years. This is too long. Meanwhile, PEA quickly smart-metered my house so that my rotating disk was gone. Any surplus is taken gratis, and no credit given.

Eighteen per cent of the SET market cap is made up of companies that generate electricity in creative ways like LNG combined cycle units in industrial parks, reservoir-based floating solar, wind power on the Isthmus of Kra, biomass in Krabi, or plans for burning green ammonia. To reward this risk and creativity, electricity must be priced at market, not at a level that gets three cheers at the mor lam in Sakhon Nakhon. Subsidising energy consumption is the opposite of the sustainability Thailand loves to talk about. However, Thailand is now a Brics partner, joining the world's preeminent coal-burning association.

A case of TDS

Re: "Israeli right's trust in Trump may soon sour", (Opinion, Jan 17) & "'Trumpism' dangers", (PostBag, Jan 18).

One of the first important things we do on arrival in Bangkok for our annual visit is to seek out the Post (not easy to do!). Reading two pieces in the latest Saturday's edition was sad and amusing.

Bret Stephens' commentary is typical of the New York Times, which is just a mouthpiece for the US far left, which is still hurting from the election which so clearly refuted its dogma. The US is a democratic nation, and the people have spoken, loudly and clearly. A certain contingency refuses to accept that fact. That's sadly amusing.

In PostBag's letter "Trumpism dangers", while I haven't heard the term "Trumpism" before, there's another that I have heard a lot: "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (TDS), which is used to describe those people who seem unable and/or unwilling to accept the election's outcome, instead trying to undercut anything he does. US elections are not popularity contests: we are not electing a homecoming king, nor a kindergarten teacher. Some -- many -- may not "like" Trump's style or think they don't like him as a person. But we are voting for qualifications and policies and also considering the alternatives. And that's what we did.

It would be far more productive if people suffering from TDS would realise what elections are about, accept the will of the vast majority, and get on with life.

A gorilla's fate

Re: "Taking down gorilla smugglers proves difficult", (Online, Jan 18).

I hope that this poor little gorilla had not been identified as Bua Noi's replacement owing to the current life-sentenced prisoner's possible and unsurprising failing health. This would suggest that Zeytin had a "lucky" escape.

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