Are retirees moving to the new DTV visa - anybody done it?

[bbi1]

In Pattaya, do all condos charge the government electricity & water rate? And if anyone knows, at The Base Condo, do they also charge government rates?

 

At The Base I've got different replies from two different agents for two different listings, one said electricity is 3-4 baht/unit while another said 6-7 baht per unit. However they have both said that water is charged at 35-40 baht per unit, which seems crazy high considering I've been paying 10 baht per unit in BKK.

[canopus1969]

Answer to your first question is No

[bbi1]

2 minutes ago, canopus1969 said:

Answer to your first question is No

I was always under the impression that all condos get charged the government electricity rate by the Metropolitan Electricity Authority....well, at least for BKK anyway. It was only apartments that get to rip off the tenants by charging whatever rate they wish. 

[TaaSaparot]

I never understand why people get a bee in their bonnet over this.

 

If the total price of renting and utilities seems fair to you, then rent it.

 

 

[Pattaya46]

> water is charged at 35-40 baht per unit, which seems crazy high considering I've been paying 10 baht per unit in BKK.

 

Price for house is a lot lower than for condominiums. About 10-15 baht for house, but 32.50 baht (+taxes!) for condominiums who have to pay the "large business" price. Also condos have to pay city taxes wastewater treatment. 35-40 is a "normal" price nowadays.

 

Official Water Price for Pattaya :

http://en.pwa.co.th/contents/service/table-price

 

[KittenKong]

In all condo buildings I know of here the electricity is billed directly to each unit by the PEA at the official rate. It is NOT billed to the building: only common electrical use (elevators, hall lights, pumps) is billed to the building and this is paid for from the common fees.

The official rate should be just over 4B for domestic supplies but may be several Baht more if the condo unit is in company name.

Landlords may choose to ask for a higher rate than the one on the bill, and this is negotiable.

 

Water in all condo buildings I know of here is billed by the building to each unit. The price is fixed by the committee/management and 35-45B is common. This is because the condo building pays the business rate for water, not the domestic rate. The total rate also normally includes a waste water treatment fee.

Again, landlords may want to apply a different rate and this should be discussed.

 

A recent law requires bigger landlords to charge no more than the cost price. It does not seem to be applied much.

 

There may be some older/smaller buildings with different arrangements, but they will be rare.

[KittenKong]

5 hours ago, TaaSaparot said:

I never understand why people get a bee in their bonnet over this.

For me it would be a matter of principle.

[Pattaya46]

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

The official rate should be just over 4B for domestic supplies //

Over? Why that? The rate was 3.74 baht per Unit (kWh) on my last bill.

Rate in fact depends of you consumption. The more units you use, the more expensive they are.

[richard_smith237]

41 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Over? Why that? The rate was 3.74 baht per Unit (kWh) on my last bill.

Rate in fact depends of you consumption. The more units you use, the more expensive they are.

The rates are slightly different depending on your property size (i.e. house or Condo), the cost per unit also varies based on consumption... there may also be geographical differences. 

[bbi1]

10 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

> water is charged at 35-40 baht per unit, which seems crazy high considering I've been paying 10 baht per unit in BKK.

 

Price for house is a lot lower than for condominiums. About 10-15 baht for house, but 32.50 baht (+taxes!) for condominiums who have to pay the "large business" price. Also condos have to pay city taxes wastewater treatment. 35-40 is a "normal" price nowadays.

 

Official Water Price for Pattaya :

http://en.pwa.co.th/contents/service/table-price

 

Wow, it seems to cost 400% more for Pattaya to do wastewater treatment than in BKK. 40 baht/unit in Pattaya vs only paying 10 baht/unit in BKK.

[thailand49]

I will take a bit of a stab on this based on the comments " two different agents " 

Since that was brought up the agents are representing the owners of the Condo Units and not the development itself that might explain the difference. The owner once gets the bill from the Condo might tack on their own charge to profit or cover the Condo yearly maintenance. 

You might go down to the utilities and provide them with the address and obtain the actual cost for the development.

I would be more concern with the contract than the utilities, depending on the length of your stay concern how the Condo is run and addressing problems. Might ask the agents who are they representing and if a problem who do you go to the Condo or the agent. 

Personally, I would look into the lower rate unit first (electric) since in general, it would signal the owner might be a foreigner whereas Thais thinking at times just doesn't make a lot of sense?

How long each unit been on the market and how long the last tenant stay is also important?

 

[dotpoom]

17 hours ago, TaaSaparot said:

If the total price of renting and utilities seems fair to you, then rent it.

Isn't that his problem....he doesn't know what the total price will be ...but it would help if he knew what price he would have to pay per units.

[fullcave]

19 hours ago, bbi1 said:

I was always under the impression that all condos get charged the government electricity rate by the Metropolitan Electricity Authority....well, at least for BKK anyway. It was only apartments that get to rip off the tenants by charging whatever rate they wish. 

No, not only your apartment.

[Henryford]

My water bill is @150 baht a month even using the 34 baht a unit. Does it matter what the unit rate is?

[Media1]

My condo charged 33 water 4.50 electric. I actually went to the PEA to connect directly.

They came to do the job. The technician at condo gave them some story and brushed them off. They are breaking the law selling on electricity..

This is just example of no active laws. Maybe with a new government it can be fixed. They set up a hotline which l called. The Thai girl connected to government office brushed me back to PEA lol. It's all one big scam. Cost me money running around. In my country you be jailed for tampering the electricity. The water is also plumbed. Liars what else could you expect here.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Media1

[scorecard]

23 hours ago, bbi1 said:

I was always under the impression that all condos get charged the government electricity rate by the Metropolitan Electricity Authority....well, at least for BKK anyway. It was only apartments that get to rip off the tenants by charging whatever rate they wish. 

Well my old condo in Bkk (all units privately owned) always increased the unit charge before billing the individual units, until it was discovered that the difference, hundred of thousands of Baht, was flowing directly into the bank account of the paid and unscrupulous management company.

 

A new unit owner, very professional senior guy from the property area of a major Thai bank, insisted on scrutinizing all the accounts, he quickly found the above any more*. The management company was dismissed and taken to court, the owner of the management company went to jail and was fined heavily and had to repay all the overcharging (more than 10 years of overcharging) to the unit owners and the other owners of the management company had to pay all the costs of calculating / repaying the overcharges.

 

*Further, the accountant was also an employee of the management company (above). Scrutiny of the annual accounts revealed very large charges (all supposedly paid) for building insurance and more. In fact there was no insurance policy or premium payments whatever. The accountant also went to jail. 

Edited October 10, 2018 by scorecard

[Media1]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Well my old condo in Bkk (all units privately owned) always increased the unit charge before billing the individual units, until it was discovered that the difference, hundred of thousands of Baht, was flowing directly into the bank account of the paid and unscrupulous management company.

 

A new unit owner, clever senior guy from the property area of a major Thai bank, insisted on scrutinizing all the accounts, he quickly found the above any more*. The management company was dismissed and taken to court, the owner of the management company went to jail and was fined heavily and had to repay all the overcharging to the unit owners.

 

*Further, the accountant was also an employee of the management company (above). Scrutiny of the annual accounts revealed very large charges (all supposedly paid) for building insurance and more. In fact there was no insurance policy or premium payments whatever. The accountant also went to jail. 

Correct these characters are running wild. There is no law looking at them. And the police even do not care. So yes there stealing money. 

[TaaSaparot]

5 hours ago, dotpoom said:

Isn't that his problem....he doesn't know what the total price will be ...but it would help if he knew what price he would have to pay per units.

Well, that is the question I am asking when I go out looking at places to rent.

[Cricky]

Seems to be some confusion here.

 

I own a couple of condos and all the electricity meters are in my name, these electricity charges are paid directly to PEA.

I take it if you rent an apartment the electricity rates are set out in your contract.

So I gather if owner occupied or you have a decent landlord you can pay directly to PEA.

 

The water charges are always paid to the condo management and have a minimum use, i think 100 baht per month.

 

 

Please correct me if this is not the case.

Edited October 10, 2018 by VYCM

[bbi1]

2 hours ago, Media1 said:

My condo charged 33 water 4.50 electric. I actually went to the PEA to connect directly.

They came to do the job. The technician at condo gave them some story and brushed them off. They are breaking the law selling on electricity..

This is just example of no active laws. Maybe with a new government it can be fixed. They set up a hotline which l called. The Thai girl connected to government office brushed me back to PEA lol. It's all one big scam. Cost me money running around. In my country you be jailed for tampering the electricity. The water is also plumbed. Liars what else could you expect here.

Is this at The Base or a different condo?

[Rimmer]

A post all in caps has been removed

[how241]

On 10/9/2018 at 7:44 PM, Pattaya46 said:

> water is charged at 35-40 baht per unit, which seems crazy high considering I've been paying 10 baht per unit in BKK.

 

Price for house is a lot lower than for condominiums. About 10-15 baht for house, but 32.50 baht (+taxes!) for condominiums who have to pay the "large business" price. Also condos have to pay city taxes wastewater treatment. 35-40 is a "normal" price nowadays.

 

Official Water Price for Pattaya :

http://en.pwa.co.th/contents/service/table-price

 

I agree.  I pay 39 baht at my condo.

[KittenKong]

On 10/9/2018 at 11:19 PM, Pattaya46 said:

Over? Why that? The rate was 3.74 baht per Unit (kWh) on my last bill.

Rate in fact depends of you consumption. The more units you use, the more expensive they are. 

Are you including tax and the fixed fee?

 

It's true that the rate does vary according to how much you use but for me the total divided by the number of units usually comes to about 4. That's what I always think of it as anyway.

[bkk6060]

I am at The Base also seems like it has been clarified.

 

I never have questioned it because it seems so cheap here.

My normal bill is around 1000 b a month for electric and one aircon is on constantly.

Water never higher then 120 b ( when I am bringing girls to my room) but usually 80.

 

Back home electric 10,000 b a month and water 1500 b. 

 

 

[KittenKong]

On 10/10/2018 at 2:48 PM, VYCM said:

I own a couple of condos and all the electricity meters are in my name, these electricity charges are paid directly to PEA.

I take it if you rent an apartment the electricity rates are set out in your contract.

So I gather if owner occupied or you have a decent landlord you can pay directly to PEA.

The water charges are always paid to the condo management and have a minimum use, i think 100 baht per month.

Please correct me if this is not the case. 

As far as I know, as I mentioned, there are some older condo buildings that receive only one official electricity bill and they do the internal billing themselves. They are rare.

 

Rental contracts may or may not contain details of the cost of utilities. A good one will.

 

It is up to the building management/committee whether they want to impose a minimum water fee or a meter reading fee. Mine does not.