How Much Do You Pay For Electricity Per Month?

[Dancali]

My bills for my new place just seem too high. 3500 last month and about 3000 this month.

This is direct electricity, there is no middleman serviced apartment collecting a profit.

I run 1 air whenever I'm around. Probably 15-20 hours a day. My gf watches tv with a fan in another room, I have the radio on, and I'm on the computer almost all the time.

I had a place at Surasak with the inflated utility prices where I had a similar electricity use pattern and the price was in the 2000 range per month.

About how much do you pay per month for electricity? And what sort of use do you have?

[Tornado]

I happen to have the biggest electricity bill of anyone I know (private house).

My monthly bill runs between 5,500 and 7,000, that depends on if my wife or myself are sleeping in the "other" room as 2 airconds all night chew the fuel

To answer your question, I run an aircond 24 hours a day, 3 fridges, 2 tvs, 2 dvds, 2 computers and lights. I was told by my sparky friend that if you load your freezers with bread, ice or polystirene foam that it will "half" your elec for the fridge. Also having everything on standby doesnt help the bill, but I like to press the remote instead of getting up

[john b good]

I would suggest that you are paying too much considering what little you run on electricity.

Have a good look at the reticulation and make sure your neighbours are not hooked up to your meter.

Even running an air-con at night I wouldn't pay much more that 2,000 Bhat

TV's, refrigerators, fans, radios and the like (even your computer) don't use a great deal individually.

Good idea to have the air-cons checked as unless they are fairly new they can be pretty inefficient.

One thing that would send it up is the shower hot water heater if you have heaps of showers (shower with your GF)

[thedude]

while we are on this topic, does anyone know what the actual government electricity rate is in bangkok for a condominium building? i am being fleeced 4 baht per kwh by my building management and i want to know how much profit they are actually making off me. my present rate of consumption would put me close to 5000 baht per month. and i live alone (mostly) in a 2 bedroom!

[Tornado]

while we are on this topic, does anyone know what the actual government electricity rate is in bangkok for a condominium building? i am being fleeced 4 baht per kwh by my building management and i want to know how much profit they are actually making off me. my present rate of consumption would put me close to 5000 baht per month. and i live alone (mostly) in a 2 bedroom!

2 baht per unit I think?

[Bluecat]

On this one, I guess I beat the record.

I use only one aircon in the bedroom during the night and sometimes during the day in the hot season.

But I have a lot of lights in the garden.

My electricity bill is in between 2,500 and 3,500 Baht per month.

3 months ago, it went up to 6,500.

After complaining, I was told that maybe there was some mistake and that there would be some adjustment the month after.

I received the bill the month after, a bit more than 10,000 Baht.

Electricians came to the house and during the checking, the whole "system" exploded, including the phone line,...

Now, it seems it is getting better.

No conclusion yet,...

[ovenman]

I gues I should consider myself lucky. I live by myself in a two-storey, three-bedroom house (Chiang Mai). My monthly electric bill ranges from 300 to 500 baht per month. I run the air conditioner perhaps four hours every evening to drive out the hot air from the second storey and rarely sleep with the AC on, perhaps less than a dozen nights per year. Computer is on all the time as is the entertainment center. Aside from that the usual assortment of fridge, washing machine, lights, etc.

[Dutchy]

My bills for my new place just seem too high. 3500 last month and about 3000 this month.

This is direct electricity, there is no middleman serviced apartment collecting a profit.

I run 1 air whenever I'm around. Probably 15-20 hours a day. My gf watches tv with a fan in another room, I have the radio on, and I'm on the computer almost all the time.

I had a place at Surasak with the inflated utility prices where I had a similar electricity use pattern and the price was in the 2000 range per month.

About how much do you pay per month for electricity? And what sort of use do you have?

It sounds like it's a bit too much, maybe your girlfriend could switch that fan off in that other room. That would surely bring the costs down.....

We live in a moo baan and pay approx. 2200 baht every month, we don'tneed to water the garden anymore so the water is only 25 baht. That used to be 150 baht, we pay further for security and garbage collection approx. 500 baht per month. We use one aircon every night.... seems reasonable, we've got a maid who leaves the fan on all day even if she's not in the room. It doesn't seem to affect the bill that much...

Dutchy

[ChiangMaiThai]

Do the owners of condos really only pay 2 baht a unit? I'm suddenly not thrilled with paying 5 baht a unit. That's ridiculous. Does it work this way in the West? You rent my place and I decide what your electricity costs and I'll up it by 150% if I want.

I run 1 air con 12 hours a night. Another 6 hours a day. My bill for last month was 5,100 baht.

Are you telling me that the actual amount due to the electricity company is only 2000 baht???

[Dutchy]

Do the owners of condos really only pay 2 baht a unit? I'm suddenly not thrilled with paying 5 baht a unit. That's ridiculous. Does it work this way in the West? You rent my place and I decide what your electricity costs and I'll up it by 150% if I want.

I run 1 air con 12 hours a night. Another 6 hours a day. My bill for last month was 5,100 baht.

Are you telling me that the actual amount due to the electricity company is only 2000 baht???

It's not relevant what you pay in the west. This is Thailand, you will also pay more for your telephone, they will up it by whatever people are willing or not willing to pay. Don't expect logic here, the Thais will ripp you off in every possible way because it's Thailand. That seems logical.

[ChiangMaiThai]

Do the owners of condos really only pay 2 baht a unit? I'm suddenly not thrilled with paying 5 baht a unit. That's ridiculous. Does it work this way in the West? You rent my place and I decide what your electricity costs and I'll up it by 150% if I want.

I run 1 air con 12 hours a night. Another 6 hours a day. My bill for last month was 5,100 baht.

Are you telling me that the actual amount due to the electricity company is only 2000 baht???

It's not relevant what you pay in the west. This is Thailand, you will also pay more for your telephone, they will up it by whatever people are willing or not willing to pay. Don't expect logic here, the Thais will ripp you off in every possible way because it's Thailand. That seems logical.

I agree the price is not relevant. What I want to know is if the practice of renting out a condo and then charging the tenant 150% premium on electricity is standard practice in the West and in Thailand too for that matter.

I agree. There is no logic here. It can be great when you're here as a tourist or when you have plenty of money to burn. But when you're involved in trying to build a business or take care of a family, it can seriously piss you off.

[ovenman]

Do the owners of condos really only pay 2 baht a unit? I'm suddenly not thrilled with paying 5 baht a unit.

Inspecting my actual bills for the past six months, it appears that I pay on average, about 2.15 baht per unit of electricity (before taxes are added). I don't know how electricty is actually billed here in Chiang Mai so I couldn't tell you whether it's just a straight charge per unit, a service charge plus a per unit charge, or if the unit charge increases as one moves through different brackets of consumption, or whatever other billing system you may wanna dream up...

[stumonster]

if you are paying your electricity money to some one else other than 7-11 or the electricity department presume you are paying for the privelige.

if you want to improve the efficiency of your air cond, go outside to where the secondary section is located, turn off all the power to the unit( I turn off the house main circuit breaker ) and hose the dust and crud off the heat exchanger( the thing with all the fins behind the fan). let it dry for an hour then turn the power back on.

you could also pay your local refrig guy to do it.. he might even have compressed air to clean out your unit for you.

I take no responsibility for any mishaps.. I clean mine once every 2 months.

[KevinN]

We run 2 reefers,3 hot water heaters,2 fans 1-25,000BTU aircon 24/7 plus 1-10,000 BTU at night ,1 computer 8 hrs a day and sometimes another computer a few hrs a day, pump water ,2 TVs some, and our bill this time of year is about 5,500 and in cooler weather it is around 2,500, but if you are paying your landlord,then he is pobly skimming you a little.

[tutsiwarrior]

to compare elec power consumption we got two shop houses side by side...me and the wife and an assortment of nieces on one side with large fridge, fans and 1.5 ton a/c in operation upstairs about 18 hrs/day average. Next door we got mama and a continually changing assortment of family persons with fans, smaller fridge. The bill for May was 350 for mama and 2100 for ours.

Just to illustrate what a/c consumption can represent. No roof space insulation so that the upstairs is like a hot box in hot weather. On mama's side everyone sleeps together on the floor in front of the TV sort of like a live thai tamale pie...two bedrooms upstairs both with king sized beds and rotating ceiling fans but no one bothers...a pillow, hard tiled floor and a wrap and they are cool...literally and figuratively speaking.

[Bluecat]

On mama's side everyone sleeps together on the floor in front of the TV sort of like a live thai tamale pie...two bedrooms upstairs both with king sized beds and rotating ceiling fans but no one bothers...a pillow, hard tiled floor and a wrap and they are cool...literally and figuratively speaking.

Right, Tutsi.

That's the way to go.

I mean if you need to reduce your electricity bill,...

[tutsiwarrior]

bluecat...a consensus on this thread is that falangs require a/c in order to ensure a good night's sleep. Anything less would render the laid back, fully integrated up country falang a vicious maniac that would accummulate WMDs to do damage to their local communities...

also...my wife won't even let me play with her tits if there are other persons, sleeping or not, in the room...

[Bluecat]

also...my wife won't even let me play with her tits if there are other persons, sleeping or not, in the room...

No wonder.

If they sleep, you wake them up.

If they don't, you make them shy,...

[Nam Kao]

Do you guys have meters you can watch to see the electicity consumption?

If so turn everything off in you house and go look to see if the meter is

still turning, if it is you probably have a scumbag neighbor hooked onto

your line. Its very common.

G/L

[Bluecat]

If so turn everything off in you house and go look to see if the meter is

still turning, if it is you probably have a scumbag neighbor hooked onto

your line. Its very common.

I now understand why when I switch off the electricity in my house, I get the neighbours complaining.

Did I say I was paying a HUGE price for my electricity bill?

[Jimbo]

What you are all paying seems extremely high.

I have the A/C in the bedroom which runs about 12 hours a day and one in my living room which runs about 6 hours a day plus the fridge, tv etc and my last bill was only 350THB a month. Maybe something is wrong with my meter?

[MadFrankie]

6k-7k per month for my ranch.. total joke, it less in the UK for a place twice the size in the middle of winter

[Bluecat]

I have the A/C in the bedroom which runs about 12 hours a day and one in my living room which runs about 6 hours a day plus the fridge, tv etc and my last bill was only 350THB a month.

Are you the one living next to my house?

[RDN]

I was told by my sparky friend that if you load your freezers with bread, ice or polystirene foam that it will "half" your elec for the fridge.

Does he own a bread, ice and polystyrene foam shop?

[ovenman]

...my last bill was only 350THB a month. Maybe something is wrong with my meter?

What you and I are paying monthly for electricity is more in line with what any of my Thai friends pay in similar housing situations.

[Bluecat]

...my last bill was only 350THB a month. Maybe something is wrong with my meter?

What you and I are paying monthly for electricity is more in line with what any of my Thai friends pay in similar housing situations.

Is it?

My Thai colleagues pay in between 1,500 and 2,500.

Baht 350/month? Getting up at sunrise and going to bed at sunset.

Nothing in between and no aircon,...

[ovenman]

Is it?

My Thai colleagues pay in between 1,500 and 2,500.

Where do you live? I'm in Chiang Mai.

[MadFrankie]

done quite a lot of thinking on what it is that makes such a big difference..

My conclusion is..... Its down to the age of yer air con units, older ones are gonna eat it up like a bunch of ethiopians in Makky D's..

Appologies if someones already mentioned this

[Thetyim]

What you are all paying seems extremely high.

I have the A/C in the bedroom which runs about 12 hours a day and one in my living room which runs about 6 hours a day plus the fridge, tv etc and my last bill was only 350THB a month. Maybe something is wrong with my meter?

An average size aircon will cost 10 baht an hour to run,

so YES your meter sounds faulty or it is just too small to keep up with the rate you are using it.

[RDN]

What you are all paying seems extremely high.

I have the A/C in the bedroom which runs about 12 hours a day and one in my living room which runs about 6 hours a day plus the fridge, tv etc and my last bill was only  350THB a month. Maybe something is wrong with my meter?

An average size aircon will cost 10 baht an hour to run,

so YES your meter sounds faulty or it is just too small to keep up with the rate you are using it.

The cost of running an air con must be related to the outside temperature and the temperature setting of your air con.

If the outside temp is 30 C and you set your air con to 25 C, then you will pay a lot more than someone who sets it to 29 C.

My bedroom air con is brand new and set to 29 C and we have a ceiling fan on its lowest setting to blow the cool air over us. I often have to pull the duvet over me because it feels too cool.

But I have been in my current house for only just over a month and am eagerly waiting for my second electric bill. My baht per unit rate (according to my first bill) is 0.3828. I don't know why it is so low - it may be that the less you use, the less the rate is, AND my first bill was for only about 7 days which was for 95 units. That is why I am eagerly awaiting my second bill. If the rate is still 0.38 baht per unit, I will buy some more air cons, water heaters and maybe even an electric cooker!