PEA electricity payment, no warning before removing meter ? Application or email ?

[gamesgplayemail]

hello,

 

PEA electricity of thailand removed the meter because bill was not paid.

Bill was not paid because credit card used denied payment without legit reason.

 

Is it standard procedure that they don't try to contact me before removing the meter ?

 

No android application warning or email warning or sms warning ?

 

This is Chonburi PEA, but is it the same procedure all around Thailand ?

 

Maybe better use direct bank account debit instead of credit cards, so they will never have a problem to get the money ?

 

Thank you.

[CharlieH]

If you get the PEA App, you get notice the bill is ready to be paid, and you can pay it directly through the app/phone banking etc yourself. Never need worry about mail.

 

If you already have the app you would see there is a balance outstanding.

Just a suggestion going forward.

 

I have never heard of a fast removal without prior notice in my area, nor seen one on this forum that I can recall.

[J Town]

I've been warned they are ruthless and to the pay bill pronto!

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, J Town said:

I've been warned they are ruthless and to the pay bill pronto!

And it may also involve a fee to re-install the meter.

[KhunBENQ]

3 hours ago, gamesgplayemail said:

because bill was not paid.

A single month delay would not lead to consequences (here).

Sister in law more than once missed payment for a month without meter disconnect.

 

As above: install the PEA app ("PEA Smart Plus").

I remember I needed to enter a Thai ID number.

Can be anyone. Does not need to be the meter customer.

(ID's can also be "generated" but I don't want to spread this here)
 

[bkk6060]

One day last month mine shut down while I was in my room. Absolutely no warning, note in mailbox, or knock on door.

I walked out and saw the PEA dude with the meter in his hand walking toward the elevator.

I stopped him and had to ask another worker on the floor who speaks English; whats up?

She said he took it because I did not pay my bill, which I had.

Long story short, they had the wrong room....

Lucky I was there to catch it.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by bkk6060

[seajae]

we had our meter removed by them with no warning and it turned out the bill had been paid the week before  and it was an office stuff up, no apology at all, they wanted to leave the meter till the next day as it was late afternoon before replacing it but they were told it had to be done immediately or they would be paying for everything in the fridge & freezer plus a hotel for us for the night, was back on within 30 minutes. No ideas at all where customer service comes in, then again most thai businesses have no idea of customer service so not unusual

[madmen]

Amazing every farang who has meter removed was innocent, what nonsense. Never had mine removed in 13 years and never heard of anyone of hundreds of expats Ive known over that period have theirs removed....Pay on time , pay correctly without stuffing it up..not rocket science

[billd766]

3 hours ago, CharlieH said:

If you get the PEA App, you get notice the bill is ready to be paid, and you can pay it directly through the app/phone banking etc yourself. Never need worry about mail.

 

If you already have the app you would see there is a balance outstanding.

Just a suggestion going forward.

 

I have never heard of a fast removal without prior notice in my area, nor seen one on this forum that I can recall.

It happened to us at my wife's old shop which she had rented to somebody else who didn't pay the bill and "forgot" to tell us before they moved on. It cost them part of their deposit to pay the bill but it wasn't a problem. The PEA took the meter away and replaced it a couple of days after we paid the bill. It cost 100 or 200 baht I think

 

This was in rural Khampaeng Phet.

 

Now I pay both bills (the standing charge for the shop is about 41 baht and if somebody is using the place, either they or I will pay it, and if I pay it my wife gets the money back, either by them paying my wife or she kicks them out.

[jimn]

If you a bank account, direct debit is definately the way to go. Just ensure you have enougth funds in the bank and forget about it. You will still get your monthly printed bill as per normal. I cant believe people in this day and age still trudge down to 7/11 to pay their bill. Maybe its the highlight of their day.

[gamesgplayemail]

2 hours ago, jimn said:

If you a bank account, direct debit is definately the way to go. Just ensure you have enougth funds in the bank and forget about it. You will still get your monthly printed bill as per normal. I cant believe people in this day and age still trudge down to 7/11 to pay their bill. Maybe its the highlight of their day.

 

Thank you but i said that its automatic credit card payment but it didn't work for the first time after 15 years. And no warning.

 

 

 

[bankruatsteve]

7 minutes ago, gamesgplayemail said:

 

Thank you but i said that its automatic credit card payment but it didn't work for the first time after 15 years. And no warning.

Maybe no relationship, but today I tried to book on Thai Lion Air and it kept rejecting my MasterCard.  Called the number for them and after 10 min. of this/that, she asked where my card was from.  The USA.  'Oh, we are not accepting cards from the US/Canada right now."  Apparently that just started recently.

[PETERTHEEATER]

PEA electricity payment, no warning before removing meter 

 

It is unusual for the meter to be physically removed. The usual PEA practice for unpaid Bill's is to disconnect the output cables on the consumer output from the meter. 

[swissbie]

3 hours ago, jimn said:

If you a bank account, direct debit is definately the way to go. Just ensure you have enougth funds in the bank and forget about it. You will still get your monthly printed bill as per normal. I cant believe people in this day and age still trudge down to 7/11 to pay their bill. Maybe its the highlight of their day.

I pay my bills at the PEA as it's near, otherwise it could be 7/11. I don't like to have my bank accounts being linked to direct debit. That's about trust; no problem using apps otherwise.

[swissbie]

36 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

PEA electricity payment, no warning before removing meter 

 

It is unusual for the meter to be physically removed. The usual PEA practice for unpaid Bill's is to disconnect the output cables on the consumer output from the meter. 

At most places i have lived here, meters had been removed physically, as it's easy to reconnect disabled output cables. No problems with credit cards or errors, but there are just lots of people who simply don't pay their bills.

[mikecha]

7/11 take the paper pay  they are everywhere so simple 

[Don Mega]

I pay cash at the 7/11 before the due date and my meter has never been taken.

[sfokevin]

Even with autpay don't you get a monthly bill and review it?... 

Edited November 22, 2019 by sfokevin

[Don Mega]

4 hours ago, jimn said:

 I cant believe people in this day and age still trudge down to 7/11 to pay their bill. Maybe its the highlight of their day.

I drop into my local 7/11 every morning on my way to work for a pack of ciggies and something for morning tea...

 

Not all of us sit at home twiddling our thumbs waiting for local beer bar to open.

[billd766]

4 hours ago, jimn said:

If you a bank account, direct debit is definately the way to go. Just ensure you have enougth funds in the bank and forget about it. You will still get your monthly printed bill as per normal. I cant believe people in this day and age still trudge down to 7/11 to pay their bill. Maybe its the highlight of their day.

It doesn't work with Kasikorn bank as there is no provision to pay the PEA.

[Speedhump]

20 hours ago, madmen said:

Amazing every farang who has meter removed was innocent, what nonsense. Never had mine removed in 13 years and never heard of anyone of hundreds of expats Ive known over that period have theirs removed....Pay on time , pay correctly without stuffing it up..not rocket science

PEA have never made a mistake ever. No sir. 

[Speedhump]

7 minutes ago, billd766 said:

It doesn't work with Kasikorn bank as there is no provision to pay the PEA.

Arrogant always right expats don't want to hear that.  

[EricTh]

4 hours ago, jimn said:

If you a bank account, direct debit is definately the way to go. Just ensure you have enougth funds in the bank and forget about it. You will still get your monthly printed bill as per normal. I cant believe people in this day and age still trudge down to 7/11 to pay their bill. Maybe its the highlight of their day.

Yes, I fill up an automatic debit form to my savings account. It was fast and easy.

 

Beats any problems later if I do forget to pay my bill or out of Thailand for a month or so.

Edited November 22, 2019 by EricTh

[Sophon]

22 minutes ago, billd766 said:

It doesn't work with Kasikorn bank as there is no provision to pay the PEA.

I pay my PEA bill via direct debit from my Kasikorn Bank account.

[Stevemercer]

21 hours ago, madmen said:

Amazing every farang who has meter removed was innocent, what nonsense. Never had mine removed in 13 years and never heard of anyone of hundreds of expats Ive known over that period have theirs removed....Pay on time , pay correctly without stuffing it up..not rocket science

 Ha ha.

 

Ours was removed even though we had paid the bill. They meant to remove a neighbours, but took ours instead. They even tried to charge us a re-connection fee.

[mokwit]

Historically people have been caught out and disconnected seemingly for no reason where they forget to pay one month/don't get bill and don't click to it. The arrears doesn't appear on the next months bill so you continue paying every month in oblivion until 6 months after the missed bill they cut you off, seemingly for no reason.

[KhaoYai]

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

It doesn't work with Kasikorn bank as there is no provision to pay the PEA.

I've been paying through direct debit out of my Kasikorn account for 4 years.

[KhaoYai]

OP, its normal for meters to be taken away in Thailand if a bill is unpaid.  It seems unfortunate in your case that the problem was caused by your credit card company. However, I can't speak for all areas but when I had a problem, it took them 2 months before they removed my meter - my PEA office is in Pak Chong.

 

As far as I know, they do try to contact the registered customer before removing the meter but they will only try to contact the account holder - not the person who pays and as you know, the two can be different. They won't (certainly not the Pak Chong office) change the account into your name unless you have a Tabien Baan so you need to make sure that the actual account holder keeps their telephone number up to date with the PEA.

 

I had a problem with them before I changed to direct debit.  I'm not in Thailand all the time and there's nobody at my house when I'm out of the country.  I arrived back one time to find no meter so obviously no electric - I stayed at a nearby hotel.  Next morning I went to the PEA office to sort the problem out. All done and arrangements made for the meter to be returned that afternoon, I told the lady I would be out of the country for 2 months, was that OK? I received the usual smile and nod so thought it was.  I returned 8 weeks later on a Sunday - my electric was OK. Next afternoon I set off to pay my water, bins and on to the PEA. I called in at a friend's on the way and when I arrived at the PEA office, I was too late and they were closed. Next morning I awoke to find.........no electric, meter gone again. 

 

When I went to the PEA office to sort things out once again, I was told I could pay through direct debit - that was set up and since then (4 years ago) I haven't had a problem. I do however, check my online banking regularly so I know the payments are being made.

 

Can I suggest you check your credit card statements each month to make sure the payments have been made? If there is a further problem you should be aware of it long before your meter is taken.

[thailand49]

14 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

PEA electricity payment, no warning before removing meter 

 

It is unusual for the meter to be physically removed. The usual PEA practice for unpaid Bill's is to disconnect the output cables on the consumer output from the meter. 

I use to let the wife handle everything, then she got sick and time just flew by she was on a ventilator at that time one day the power just went out I was at an panic lucky I had a back up but she indicated the bill might not have been paid I located the bill and from it we were 1 day past the due date!

 

Prior to going down to the PEA office I checked the meter outside and noticed what they had done, at the office down at Banglamung to be polite they were a bunch of ass-so couldn't care less heartless and I was respectful and polite. I finally paid the bill but they told me " we might be able to hook it up by the end of the day ".  Not good enough for me but I accepted it.

 

Regardless, I went home explained to the wife then I went outside unscrewed the plate and inserted the wire back in. By 3pm no one has shown up nor called so I got a few clothes items got her into the car and went to stay with my brother family for the night. I was thinking of just leaving the wire as is but second thoughts I disconnected it.

 

At noon the next day we went back and everything was connected. Lesson learned they want their money care about no one so stay on top of things!????

 

[Andycoops]

15 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

PEA electricity payment, no warning before removing meter 

 

It is unusual for the meter to be physically removed. The usual PEA practice for unpaid Bill's is to disconnect the output cables on the consumer output from the meter. 

Not so here in Isan.

They whip the meter away pronto and you pay to have it reinstalled.