How much $/ month to Live in Phuket ?

[coollife99]

Hello

 

Did 1000$ /month is enought to live in Phuket ( the 1000$ are not including the accomodation ) basicaly just for eat ( daily Thai food or simple one ), motorbike, go to gym and some restaurant few times/ month, utilities

i would like to spend 5/6 month Year in Phuket so not typical holiday life ( where of ourse you need more money as you want to enjoy every moment ) i dont drink if that can matter.

 

So guys, who live in Phuket, how much do you spend monthly ?

regards

 

 

[thaibutty]

1000$ per month w/o accommodation, no alcohol and only Thai food should be plenty.

I need a lot more money than this but than we are a family of 4, have a house, car, maid,  kids go to international school, we like to eat western food too, drink the occasional bottle of wine etc.

 

I could be living cheaper if I wanted to and have done so in the past, but like the lifestyle and can afford it. 

[schlog]

1000$/month could be fine.

But have a back up plan for accidents, health problems, visa....

 

It's no problem to spend 4000$/day in hospital. I had the luck last year for 10 days lol.

[phuketrichard]

easily!!!  eating out (  thai and western)  and cooking at home 75% ..... ZERO problem>>>>>

I would have 1 minimum of $20,000 though..  Cause we all know    SH@T happens

 

I average $1,200 for TWO of us and thats including paying rent,,, NO bars, no gym ( got my bicycle and the sea)

Own the car and motorbike

[xylophone]

A whole host of good, useful and useless info similar to this on another thread entitled: "How much money to retire in Thailand".

 

 

[simoh1490]

It depends how you live.....you say just food and utilities but if you run aircon 24x7 you can easily burn through 12/15k a month on electric alone, especially if it's being marked up by your landlord.

 

 

 

 

[NamKangMan]

 

The $$$$ per month usually depends on how sick the buffalo is.  

[LivinginKata]

It's how long is the string sort of question.

 

Too many poster unknowns. Which area of Phuket. Lifestyle expectation.

 

But 1,000 bucks should be enough. Especially not include accommodation.

[thaibutty]

3 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

It depends how you live.....you say just food and utilities but if you run aircon 24x7 you can easily burn through 12/15k a month on electric alone, especially if it's being marked up by your landlord.

 

 

 

 

We usually use 2 aircons at night in two bedrooms, have a pool, lots of electronic devices, electric stove (no gas at all) and electric bill is between 4.5 and 5k a month. 

 

So for 12k you‘d really need to run A/C 24/7 :)

[bearpolar]

15k a month, unless you have a 12 br mansion, doubtfull..

 

Faulty A/C or really bad isolation would be the problem.

 

My 4br house with terrible isolation+sun exposure and tons of electronic with 3 A/C's running constantly never went above 5k~

[simoh1490]

 

7 hours ago, thaibutty said:

We usually use 2 aircons at night in two bedrooms, have a pool, lots of electronic devices, electric stove (no gas at all) and electric bill is between 4.5 and 5k a month. 

 

So for 12k you‘d really need to run A/C 24/7 :)

Which is why I specifically said 24x7 :)

1 hour ago, bearpolar said:

15k a month, unless you have a 12 br mansion, doubtfull..

 

Faulty A/C or really bad isolation would be the problem.

 

My 4br house with terrible isolation+sun exposure and tons of electronic with 3 A/C's running constantly never went above 5k~

We have one quite famous poster on Thaivisa who reminds us from time to time that his electricity bill, resulting mostly from aircon usage, is around 25,000 a month and he owns his own home, we've all also seen the bills he's posted.

 

Also, if you own your home you can control the cost you pay per unit for electricity, if you rent it's often marked up, sometimes considerably, the OP has suggested he'll only be here for 6 months out of 12 so presumably he'll be renting.

 

Finally, we own our home in the North and we have four aircon units which mostly don't get used apart from about six weeks per year, mostly because we put a lot of time and money into insulating our house. But before that work was done we would easily get over the 5k mark by running aircon - I pay 4.7 baht currently. I also lived in Phuket for 5 years in a house on the hillside, three aircons running most of the day and night was over 9k a month, every month, that was paying 9.3 baht. If you're running 3 A/C's constantly for under 5k a month you are either stealing somebody else's electricity or your definition of "constantly" is not the same as mine! It is a mathematical equation, so the cost to run a single aircon unit of x power rating for one hour, is not subjective!

Edited February 15, 2018 by simoh1490

[Flying Clog]

Yup, running a pool pump, and one a/c unit downstairs during the day and two a/c's upstairs at night sets us back about 12-14,000 baht per month.

[simoh1490]

An approximate calculation:

 

A 15,000 BTU air con unit draws about 3,500 watts on startup (averages say 2,000 watts running), if a unit of electricity costs 4.7 baht that's 2.0w x 4.7 baht x 24 hours x 30 days = circa THB 7,000 a month for a single air con unit, 24x7, approx., depending on all the usual variables such as insulation and temp. etc.

[Naam]

4 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

If you're running 3 A/C's constantly for under 5k a month you are either stealing somebody else's electricity or your definition of "constantly" is not the same as mine! It is a mathematical equation, so the cost to run a single aircon unit of x power rating for one hour, is not subjective!

correct!

not only is "constantly" a relative value but also "running x-nos. aircons in y-nos. bedrooms at night". the latter is equivalent to the statement "i'm using my car five days a week during daytime and i fill up paying 650 Baht".

[Old Croc]

We run a pool pump, 2 well pumps, two fridges, 4 TVs (never all on at the same time), at least one fan on 24/7, numerous other electronic devices, and occasionally 1 AC for short periods. 

Our electricity bill rarely tops 3000 pm

[simoh1490]

3 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

We run a pool pump, 2 well pumps, two fridges, 4 TVs (never all on at the same time), at least one fan on 24/7, numerous other electronic devices, and occasionally 1 AC for short periods. 

Our electricity bill rarely tops 3000 pm

It's the AC that burns the juice. We run two well pumps and all the usual household appliance/computers/lights etc and our leccy bill is rarely over 900 baht a month - if we run air, which we do about six weeks per year, the bill is around 1,500 a month but our house is highly energy efficient.

[LivinginKata]

7 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

We run a pool pump, 2 well pumps, two fridges, 4 TVs (never all on at the same time), at least one fan on 24/7, numerous other electronic devices, and occasionally 1 AC for short periods. 

Our electricity bill rarely tops 3000 pm

 

That seems far too cheap. Our pool pump is at least 3,000 baht/month alone. And we pay direct to PEA.  

[Old Croc]

3 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

It's the AC that burns the juice. We run two well pumps and all the usual household appliance/computers/lights etc and our leccy bill is rarely over 900 baht a month - if we run air, which we do about six weeks per year, the bill is around 1,500 a month but our house is highly energy efficient.

I don't need to turn on a light when moving around the house at night. The illumination from permanent lights on everything is sufficient to see by. I often wonder how much electricity they consume.

[Old Croc]

3 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

That seems far too cheap. Our pool pump is at least 3,000 baht/month alone. And we pay direct to PEA.  

Who do I complain to at PEA?

[phuketrichard]

Quote

Also, if you own your home you can control the cost you pay per unit for electricity, if you rent it's often marked up, sometimes considerably,

BS:    i have owned an rented, when i rent, i get the electric bill  and I pay it, as does EVERYONE i know that rents in Phuket..

My electric bill for 2 bedroom house, ( 2 of us only) seldom run aircon, no pool(but know others that it costs them around 1,500/month just for the pool pump)  never exceeds 1,000 baht/month, have found the hot water heater used more KWH than the aircon. 

 

My rate is 3.87 baht/kwh ( tax an everything included)

Edited February 16, 2018 by phuketrichard

[LivinginKata]

13 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

<snip>

My rate is 3.87 baht/kwh ( tax an everything included)

 

You do know that the rate has a monthly variable index depending on price of generator fuel. So it;s impossible to know the exact month price in advance. And your meter is clearly on a private rate. All larger rental buildings are on a higher commercial meter rate. 

[thaibutty]

48 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

That seems far too cheap. Our pool pump is at least 3,000 baht/month alone. And we pay direct to PEA.  

That seems very high for the pool pump only, unless you have a Olympic sized lap pool at home :D

 

[simoh1490]

54 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

I don't need to turn on a light when moving around the house at night. The illumination from permanent lights on everything is sufficient to see by. I often wonder how much electricity they consume.

A 5w LED costs THB 0.56 to run per every 24 hours it remains on, 56 satang. 

[Old Croc]

36 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

A 5w LED costs THB 0.56 to run per every 24 hours it remains on, 56 satang. 

Yes, LED lights have changed the equation. I remember years ago, being advised to turn off every appliance with lights, every night, or pay $100s extra a year.. 

Now the lights on one of my fridges looks like a police car in pursuit!

[simoh1490]

6 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Yes, LED lights have changed the equation. I remember years ago, being advised to turn off every appliance with lights, every night, or pay $100s extra a year.. 

Now the lights on one of my fridges looks like a police car in pursuit!

They're brilliant for security, we have seven of them around the eves of our house connected to a photocell and a further six as garden lighting, all for the power consumption of a 40w bulb.

[Old Croc]

2 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

 

That seems far too cheap. Our pool pump is at least 3,000 baht/month alone. And we pay direct to PEA.  

I told a lie!

The last bill was 2462 baht.

 

 

[Psimbo]

Oh dear, hasn't this been done to death by now? There are too many variables involved.

 

Asking random people on the net to comment about their personal expenses is pretty rude IMHO.

 

As for the 'BS' comment about electric prices being hiked that in itself is 'BS'. A lot of apartment landlords do try it on at B5 or more per unit (it soon mounts up). I have seen this first hand in the past and they backed down when confronted by me. I currently pay the base price and check the meter every month.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Psimbo

[Naam]

2 hours ago, thaibutty said:

2 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

 

That seems far too cheap. Our pool pump is at least 3,000 baht/month alone. And we pay direct to PEA.  

That seems very high for the pool pump only, unless you have a Olympic sized lap pool at home :D

a pool pump's energy consumption is based on it's pumping capacity, energy draw and runtime, i.e. pool size/volume is totally irrelevant.

 

example: pump capacity for an average size pool 1½ hp = 1.1 kW/h x 6 hours/day x 30 = 264 kW/h - depending on the rate 1,000-1,200 Baht/month. an electricity consumption of 3,000 Baht would mean a 4-5 hp pump is installed = highly unlikely.

[Old Croc]

31 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

Oh dear, hasn't this been done to death by now? There are too many variables involved.

 

Asking random people on the net to comment about their personal expenses is pretty rude IMHO.

 

As for the 'BS' comment about electric prices being hiked that in itself is 'BS'. A lot of apartment landlords do try it on at B5 or more per unit (it soon mounts up). I have seen this first hand in the past and they backed down when confronted by me. I currently pay the base price and check the meter every month.

For those of us who have been members of TVF for many years virtually everything has been done to death.

However, this is an expats forum and there will always be new comers asking questions about all aspects here, including costs of living. To reply, siting personal experience, is very much voluntary, as is reading about it if one finds it uncomfortable or irksome.

The answer for the latter is simply to abstain from posting and find something else to do with their valuable time.

[LivinginKata]

2 hours ago, thaibutty said:

That seems very high for the pool pump only, unless you have a Olympic sized lap pool at home :D

 

 

Not really the pool size, more about the pump rating, and time running.

 

We have a 1 and half HP pump that runs on timer 2 hours morning and 2 hours evening.

 

Also a 2 HP jaccuzi pump that is rarely used.