Sky high electric bill

[soistalker]

We just moved full time into our Jomtien condo. The electricity bill for last month was 3603 baht. It's never been that high. We have been using the air conditioner at night. Can anyone translate this bill? Are we paying extra for using too much electricity?

Cheers.

 

 

 

[Crossy]

OK I've fixed the image, right way up now.

 

You have used 834 units since the last reading. The rate is a sliding scale and it does get more expensive the more you use, but in reality what you are seeing is fine for the consumption.

 

Taking into account the Fuel tariff (-0.159 Baht/unit) and adding the standing charge and VAT comes to 3603 Baht = about 4.43 Baht per unit which is reasonable.

 

Look at your previous months consumption, you are more than double the largest.

 

How big is your A/C, what temp do you have set?

[thaiflyer1]

Figures seem ok...................ive just paid 2935 for 715 units (in a house)...............total bill was 3060 baht

 

The 38 baht is standing charge?.....................and the 235 baht tax.

 

If your in there full time now you will use more?

[beachproperty]

Not an expert on interpreting Thai Bills but it looks like it's for 3 months......20/06/60 to 20/09/60

Edited September 23, 2017 by beachproperty

[soistalker]

22 minutes ago, Crossy said:

OK I've fixed the image, right way up now.

 

You have used 834 units since the last reading. The rate is a sliding scale and it does get more expensive the more you use, but in reality what you are seeing is fine for the consumption.

 

Taking into account the Fuel tariff (-0.159 Baht/unit) and adding the standing charge and VAT comes to 3603 Baht = about 4.43 Baht per unit which is reasonable.

 

Look at your previous months consumption, you are more than double the largest.

 

How big is your A/C, what temp do you have set?

It is a rectangular wall unit, about 300cm X 900cm. I run it usually pretty cold.

[Crossy]

3 minutes ago, soistalker said:

It is a rectangular wall unit, about 300cm X 900cm. I run it usually pretty cold.

Ok, let's try again, how many BTU is your A/C, if you don't know we can guess from the size of your condo (metres please if possible).

 

"Pretty cold"? What do you set on the thermostat?

 

Roughly what hours do you run the A/C?

 

 

[lopburi3]

The bill is for month 9 as stated and reading was to the 20th of this month as is normal to read before month ends.

 

If a/c only run at night you might want to have cleaned if not new or use less bedding and warmer air.

 

My bill came today for 5 bedroom home in Bangkok and cost was 8,000 baht and have 5 a/c running most nights and using about 1k kwh more than you.

[soistalker]

16 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Ok, let's try again, how many BTU is your A/C, if you don't know we can guess from the size of your condo (metres please if possible).

 

"Pretty cold"? What do you set on the thermostat?

 

Roughly what hours do you run the A/C?

 

 

The condo is 42 sq. meters . I usually set it at at 20~17 (I come from a cold hometown). We usually use it at night, almost all night, and sometimes during the day.

[soistalker]

6 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

The bill is for month 9 as stated and reading was to the 20th of this month as is normal to read before month ends.

 

If a/c only run at night you might want to have cleaned if not new or use less bedding and warmer air.

 

My bill came today for 5 bedroom home in Bangkok and cost was 8,000 baht and have 5 a/c running most nights and using about 1k kwh more than you.

5 bedroom home in Bangkok? Sounds quite nice.

[lopburi3]

In that case it is likely running at full wattage all the time when being used and electric bill just reflects this.

[Pdaz]

Still seems pricey. Cassette A/C for around 8 hrs nightly in a 30 sqm bedroom plus another cassette cooling the living room/kitchen area all day. Small wall unit  A/C in an office room also running most days. Three refrigerators, swimming pool and all lighting and my bill is usually 5000baht

[Crossy]

OK, for 42m² condo the Thai standard guesstimate of 600 BTU/m² gives around 25,000 BTU.

 

That will swallow about about 2,500 Watts when the compressor is running. Let's say it runs 50% as you have it "pretty cold", so that's 1,250 Watts or 1.25 units per hour.

 

Run say 12 hours and that's 15 units per day, times 30 days = 450 units per month just on your aircon, it could be twice that if the compressor runs continuously.

 

The fix? Gradually acclimatise to warmer rooms, we set our bedroom A/C to 28C to cool the room then 30C when the TV goes off.

 

Oh, and clean the A/C

 

 

[lopburi3]

Just now, Pdaz said:

Still seems pricey. Cassette A/C for around 8 hrs nightly in a 30 sqm bedroom plus another cassette cooling the living room/kitchen area all day. Small wall unit  A/C in an office room also running most days. Three refrigerators, swimming pool and all lighting and my bill is usually 5000baht

Set for freezing?  His temp setting is unreal.  My home was New Hampshire so not exactly a hot area but can not imagine setting below 25 and if not working normally have about 27 now that used to hot weather.

[Pdaz]

Just now, lopburi3 said:

Set for freezing?  His temp setting is unreal.  My home was New Hampshire so not exactly a hot area but can not imagine setting below 25 and if not working normally have about 27 now that used to hot weather.

A/C temp depends on time of the year but average is 23 in the bedroom and 24 in the living room. As usual my missus is cold and I'm hot. Hard to get a temp that suit male and female anywhere in the World.

[Crossy]

Just now, Pdaz said:

A/C temp depends on time of the year but average is 23 in the bedroom and 24 in the living room.

You are fully 4-6^oC warmer than our OP, that would make a huge difference to the A/C duty cycle.

[giddyup]

26 minutes ago, soistalker said:

The condo is 42 sq. meters . I usually set it at at 20~17 (I come from a cold hometown). We usually use it at night, almost all night, and sometimes during the day.

20-17, that's ridiculous. I'd have to wear a sweater if it was that cold. I set mine for 27-28 and find that's cool enough. You must never leave your room, because the transition from 20 to 35 must be unbearable.

[Blue Muton]

18 minutes ago, giddyup said:

20-17, that's ridiculous. I'd have to wear a sweater if it was that cold. I set mine for 27-28 and find that's cool enough. You must never leave your room, because the transition from 20 to 35 must be unbearable.

It's quite likely that the AC unit couldn't even get the room down to 17, I doubt many people would have that as a design temperature (although obviously it also depends upon the outside temp). I'm from the UK, which isn't always basking in the sun, but have ours set at 26 or 27 at night and very seldom have AC on during the day. OP needs to try to acclimatise as previously advised.

[Happy Grumpy]

Wish mine was only 3,600thb, 

[Blue Muton]

2 minutes ago, Happy Grumpy said:

Wish mine was only 3,600thb, 

Yeah but the OP hasn't got an Aluminium smelting plant in his condo.

[Pdaz]

54 minutes ago, Crossy said:

You are fully 4-6^oC warmer than our OP, that would make a huge difference to the A/C duty cycle.

Yep. Pretty sure if I set mine to 18-20 deg my bills would climb. My house is pretty well insulated and the A/C's are newish inverter types so pwr usage is pretty good. Considering the size of the house and all the stuff we have running on a daily basis I'm pretty happy with my bill. I have a couple of friends with similar sized places who regularly get bills in excess of 14K a Month.

[Crossy]

18 minutes ago, Blue Muton said:

Yeah but the OP hasn't got an Aluminium smelting plant in his condo.

Ah, I seem to have been found out

 

Actually, it does show how different lifestyles change power consumption.

 

We are only two in a 3 bed, 3 bath house, only have air in the bedroom set to 28-30 at night.

 

BUT

 

We have a pool and koi pond along with a server rack running 24/7, outdoor lighting (low energy) and Madam has 5HP of garden irrigation, meaning I've just paid a power bill of 5,600 Baht

 

 

[Pdaz]

Make me think going solar is becoming more worthwhile. Guessing around 200+K initial cost. Should just about pay for itself in 4 yrs.

[sandyf]

You have to look at historical consumption, too many variables for anything else. I suspect that you have distorted figures for the middle of the year as I have, I was away for about a month spanning 2 periods.

If we look at March and April my figures were 416 and 462 units respectively, not very far away from your figures. For this last month my consumption was 484 units as opposed to your 800 plus units.

The differential would indicate that you had something running that you were not aware of or there was a problem with the meter reading. Either way it looks like some investigation is required.

[Crossy]

This:-

 

2 hours ago, soistalker said:

We just moved full time into our Jomtien condo.

and this:-

 

1 hour ago, soistalker said:

I usually set it at at 20~17 (I come from a cold hometown).

Are the big clues here.

[sandyf]

7 minutes ago, Crossy said:

This:-

 

and this:-

 

Are the big clues here.

You beat me to it. I just re read the OP and I initially missed the "full time" comment which obviously makes any comparison invalid.

[digbeth]

try closing windows and doors when turning on the AC

[petermik]

8 hours ago, Pdaz said:

Make me think going solar is becoming more worthwhile. Guessing around 200+K initial cost. Should just about pay for itself in 4 yrs.

Will you still be alive then.........

[giddyup]

36 minutes ago, petermik said:

Will you still be alive then.........

Will you? No guarantees in life.

[tlock]

as many have said get the unit cleaned.  after about 3-4 months without a cleaning our electric bill starts to gradually climb with the same usage as the unit becomes less efficient.    

[beachproperty]

3 hours ago, Pdaz said:

Make me think going solar is becoming more worthwhile. Guessing around 200+K initial cost. Should just about pay for itself in 4 yrs.

Guess you really didn't think about it.....He lives in a condo ..where's he going to put the panels, the inverter, and the storage batteries.....AND cost is way more than 200+k