Water Use (apartment)

[Number 6]

We are in an apartment, great location and until condo prices get real, I'm ok with being here for the next five years.

 

We are using 6-7 (8) units of water per month. Seems insane on its face but let me add we both work and I at least try to not flush the toilet after peeing (if wife home, she insists). This toilet was old and not small tank. Further, sometimes you'd need to flush 2-3 times to get leave the bowl clean. We used to have a washer, it broke and we decided not to replace it to gain space in the toilet. The water use did not go down and she was doing two loads weekly.

 

Recently, we changed buildings due to repair, same complex. I don't recall how many days into the month, but it was five units (not many). The office staff Xd out the 5 and write 3. What about that?!

 

My suspicions:

The meters are broken

Above + pipes are leaking

The SW in the office adds +2-3 units to the bin

All of the above

 

Everyone is being moved out if the building as it will undergo serious renovation.

 

Thanks for your insights

[Peterw42]

Ask for the meter reading each month, or read it yourself, its probably in a cupboard close to your condo. There may be leaking pipes in the complex but unless its a leak in the pipe after your meter, it wont effect your usage.

[Number 6]

Thanks, yeah that makes sense, of course. It's just tedious to bother with for few baht.  Just petty and annoying.

[lkn]

On 3/18/2018 at 9:47 AM, Number 6 said:

The SW in the office adds +2-3 units to the bin

I don’t get your post.

 

You are two people using 6-7 units per month, and you think they are padding your bill, and your actual bill should only be for 3-5 units?

 

If they actually issue a bill for 6-7 units and then a receipt when you pay it, it seems to be a lot of effort, as they would likely have to then create a second set of bill + receipt to give to the accountant, which could be a challenge if they use one of the standard receipt books with numbered receipts and a carbon copy left in the book.

 

[Number 6]

10 hours ago, lkn said:

I don’t get your post.

 

You are two people using 6-7 units per month, and you think they are padding your bill, and your actual bill should only be for 3-5 units?

 

If they actually issue a bill for 6-7 units and then a receipt when you pay it, it seems to be a lot of effort, as they would likely have to then create a second set of bill + receipt to give to the accountant, which could be a challenge if they use one of the standard receipt books with numbered receipts and a carbon copy left in the book.

 

Sorry, this is muddled. Apologies.

 

We are regularly charged 7-8 units of water pm. Honestly, I've no idea what a unit of water is, but it just seems excessive.

 

We both work. I make an effort not to flush the toilet as much as possible. We do shower when we return home, but that's usually 4 (6) a day. Both of us work so we're not using water during the day.

 

We used to have a washer, but it broke. We decided not to replace it and just use machines downside. The water bill was the same.

 

Ok...we changed apartments in the same complex due to maintenance on the building. We were presented with a bill that said 5 units for like ten days. It was Xd out and lowered to three.

 

I think the software in the accounting system might just be +2 units. Then when people leave, it's reset. The fault with this is that we and others have been here a long time, it's a good building.

 

I guess my question is simple, does our water consumption with an old toilet that often needs to be flushed 2-3 times after a good dump sound reasonable?

 

Hope that's more clear, thanks for your interest.

 

Yes, I could ask to see the meter, but after a loss of face, then what? I just chalk it up to the cost of living in the flat but would like to know about our usage. Not doing 8 loads of laundry and not seeing the usage go down makes no sense to me.

 

Maybe the toilet is totally wasteful...I tried bottles, bricks..but having to flush more negated any savings.

[simoh1490]

We own a house and we use between 6 and 8 units per month, that's 6,000 to 8000 litres -the cost for that level of usage averages around 95 baht per month, it's never higher than 110 baht. That's two people showering twice a day each, a large (12kgs) load of laundry three times per week and cooking two meals a day. Water for the garden comes from a different source hence not a part of the above usage figures. From looking at our bills it looks like 6,000 litres of water costs 61.20 baht, there is a then a further flat rate charge of 30 baht plus tax of 6 baht or so.

Edited March 25, 2018 by simoh1490

[lkn]

8 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

Ok...we changed apartments in the same complex due to maintenance on the building. We were presented with a bill that said 5 units for like ten days. It was Xd out and lowered to three.

I assume this happened because 5 units were used for the entire month, but because you had only lived there for 10 days, you only used 3 of these, and they had to do the correction because they had initially issued a bill for the full month.

 

8 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

I guess my question is simple, does our water consumption with an old toilet that often needs to be flushed 2-3 times after a good dump sound reasonable?

Your water usage is *not* high.

 

One unit is 1,000 liter so 6-7 units would be around 200 liter per day. Two people showering daily is at least 100 liter, probably closer to 150, and if you have an old toilet, that will be at least 10 liter per flush, and could be twice that.

 

So it is not hard to reach 200 liter per day.

 

I looked at the usage of the residents of our building, and the average here is definitely higher than 6-7 units per month.

[simoh1490]

I'm now confused by the OP's objective in posting, the total bill is circa 100 baht per month, how much would it be back in your own country!

[KittenKong]

I looked at the usage of the residents of our building, and the average here is definitely higher than 6-7 units per month.

Living on my own, with a washing machine, washing dishes by hand, taking a shower a day, and flushing the toilet a few times a day, I get through about 2 units per month on average for a total cost of around 100B/month.

In my experience Thais seem to spend half the day in the bathroom, and that may be where the extra usage comes from.

[lkn]

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Living on my own, with a washing machine, washing dishes by hand, taking a shower a day, and flushing the toilet a few times a day, I get through about 2 units per month on average for a total cost of around 100B/month.

2 units = 66 liter/day

 

A standard shower head uses ~10 liter/minute.

 

A modern toilet uses 5 liter/flush.

 

Add washing of hands, dishes, washing machine, etc.

 

It sounds like your average shower would be less than 4 minutes or maybe done with very low pressure.

 

I can’t do a proper average for my building, since there are few who live here 24/7, but from looking at the numbers, it looks like around 6 units per person, so that would be 12 units for a condo with 2 people.

 

btw: we pay less than 25 baht for one unit to the provincial water authority, so if you pay 100 baht for 2 units, it sounds like they’re making a good profit on the water supply.

[simoh1490]

I believe 10.2 baht per unit is the net cost, net of delivery and tax.

[Pattaya46]

32 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

I believe 10.2 baht per unit is the net cost, net of delivery and tax.

That looks like the price for houses,

but a condo pay something like 30-35 baht/unit  (because it's a big water "business")

[simoh1490]

13 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

That looks like the price for houses,

but a condo pay something like 30-35 baht/unit  (because it's a big water "business")

Yes you're right, I'd forgotten about that.

[KittenKong]

but a condo pay something like 30-35 baht/unit (because it's a big water "business")

Indeed, on top of which there is generally a waste water fee.

[KittenKong]

It sounds like your average shower would be less than 4 minutes

Yes. Cant really see the point hanging around in there once I'm clean.

[jackdd]

Last month 7 units for 2 people, doing the standard stuff and having a washing machine. Cost 100THB

[Number 6]

On 3/25/2018 at 9:32 AM, simoh1490 said:

I'm now confused by the OP's objective in posting, the total bill is circa 100 baht per month, how much would it be back in your own country!

It's not about the money. Further, there is a minimum b100 payment on water anyway.

 

I care about water wasted and I care about a corporation helping themselves to my money. Raise my rent, fine but don't monkey with meter rates which I'm already bring billed 100% over govt prices.

 

We have now changed buildings due to repairs. Our bill is 4 units.

 

We take short showers. I really try to conserve water.

 

I suspect that there is lots of leakage in the building and the company just makes it our collective expense.

 

Thanks everyone for their input.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Number 6