PEA Auto-Debit......

[BuddyDean]

How many days does it take PEA to debit your account, once they read the meter and leave the bill?  Thanks.

[chingmai331]

I believe my PEA bill  gives me 10 days to pay.  I always pay up so after those 10 days, i know nothing.

[Sophon]

If you have auto debit/direct debit they won't leave the bill when they read the meter, you will receive the bill in the mail a few days later. Our meter was last read on 18th of September and my account will be debited on 6th of October.

 

Sophon

[cmsally]

If I remember correctly my condo meter in BKK is read approx mid month and my acct is deducted end of month.

[JohnC]

In Pattaya PEA read my meter every month around 22/23 of the month and leave the reading receipt in the letter box, my bank account is debited around 11/12th of the following month . 

[Greenside]

I have some recent (not so fun) experience with this and your post reminded me...

 

In Nong Hoi our meter is read on the 27th or 28th and I thought the direct debit was taken a week later on the 5th or 6th since a neighbour said that is when his is paid.  Last month, we let the household account get very thin for a couple of days on the 11th/12th due to a delayed transfer, but thought nothing of it since we weren't expecting to make any payments.

 

On the 22nd we're cut off with no warning or explanation.  A neighbour tells us that a guy came the house when we were out, rang the bell (I'm guessing here), called out "Anyone home?" (in Thai, of course) which, given you can't even see the house from the front gate, is pretty dumb and disconnects the meter.  Power outages are pretty common in our village so when we came home to a dark house we were not that surprised.  It was a while before we found out the reason and were told to come and pay at the PEA office and they would re-connect us.

 

The department my wife had to go to had some typically bureaucratic name but was most likely known internally as the "You're a no-good late paying criminal type so we'll make you feel like dirt" division and the guy there did a great job making her feel really bad.  About an hour later we get a call, they reconnect the meter and all is well again.

 

The point of this (rather longer than I intended) story is that unlike in the UK or many other countries I imagine, neither K-Bank or the PEA gave us any warning that payment hadn't been made.  The failure of the DD was entirely our fault, but an SMS or a call would have solved the problem right away.  The bank statement didn't show a failed payment and subscribing to their Transaction Alert service doesn't either.  The PEA, who are actually very helpful in the front office, said that although they had our contact number, we had to register to get notifications if things go wrong with an automatic payment.  Now we are, but who knew?

 

So if you pay by DD it's worth checking that a failed payment won't leave you in the dark.

 

 

[NotEinstein]

We had a similar experience after setting up the DD. We assumed all was OK and were surprised to be cut-off, as there was no money issue. On attending the PEA we found that someone had mis-typed my account number into their system.

 

No contact whatsoever, just disconnect.....

[kokesaat]

You can set up an online account with PEA....allows you to view your bill...green after the amount denotes 'paid', red denotes 'unpaid'.  Our meter is checked around the 19th, the online link will reflect the due amount around the 23rd, and the amount is withdrawn from our bank account around the 10th.

https://epay.pea.co.th/epay/index.jsp?argcContent=frmExit.jsp

 

Edited October 2, 2017 by kokesaat
forgot attachment

[Greenside]

Thanks, that's worth knowing.

[BuddyDean]

They told me that was not available in CM, and that was one of the reasons I finally switched it into my name.  I would not have set up auto debit, if a pay online option was available.  BTW, my office is the 700 year stadium.

[BuddyDean]

OK, update.  I looked carefully at my bill and compared it tyo the old bills for the unit.  There was no due date on the slip they put in my box the day the meter was read.  A good sign.  Called the local number on the slip, and requested English, of which there isn't much at 700 year.  One lady is super competent and helpful.  She asked for account number and quickly had my name.  She said..read on the 27th, deduct on the 11th...so two weeks.  Since I had faxed her my info on the account, we double checked that....I had thought I would have to take a form to mybank and didn't have passbook.  She verified, all good.  Very pleasant experience.  My advice would be to go ahead and put in your name, while it is still easy...it was easier than getting a reentry permit at Prom, which took 90 minutes.

 

 

Edited October 5, 2017 by BuddyDean

[Greenside]

Out of interest, did you ask her about letting you know if a DD didn't go through?  My impression is that recent applications are automatically registered and that we were the victim of an old account system.

[BuddyDean]

15 minutes ago, Greenside said:

Out of interest, did you ask her about letting you know if a DD didn't go through?  My impression is that recent applications are automatically registered and that we were the victim of an old account system.

Apparently, a field collection attempt  was their way of letting you know.  Difference in a bad transaction and insufficient funds.  I would say if it was insufficient funds they would have definitely been a reconnect fee.  She did tell me that when you don't use any; the charge is only 9 THB per month.....nice..but they make sure you got 5000 in your account in case the meter goes missing...and this is a smaller condo meter, so the fee for no use, and the potential cost of a meter could be higher for a house or business.  Seemed like it was 40 per month years ago in a house.