How Much Do You Pay For Electricity Per Month?

[tatom]

We live in Issan, just 2 people, 1 fridge, 1 water heater, and 1 tv. Usually, about 250 b per month. Two years ago the electric meter broke. I looked at it, it said weather proof but had 2 inches of water in it. We told the poo yai baan and he said not to worry about it. After a year, a guy from the electric company came and said we have to fill out a form to get a new meter. He said it would cost 400 baht for a new meter but we wouldnt have to pay for any power we have used. Its been another year and still not fixed! Mai pen lai....No one seems to care,least of all, me. Oh, by the way, I just bought an air conditioner!

[Johpa]

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...

First, not all of us up-country Farangs need aircon. I do not have aircon in our house although I do prefer aircon rooms on my visits to the city, but that is only because it is much warmer at night in the city than in our vlllage. We only become vicious maniacs when we have not been let out of the village in a few weeks.

[simcity]

first hand ...

I just bough a new unit ( aircond ) my last power bill was 3052 bahts , use 904 electricity the bill before was 4498 bahts use 1306 electricity .

Look like a quality aircond save some money ..

[RamdomChances]

My bill is around 3500 a month, but thats for my house, 1 aircon (on in night), fand, comp, tv, fridge and all that stuff, a shop, with 1 frezer, 3 fridge, tv and stuff (my motherinlaw lives there) and a dairy farm for 70 head with milking machines, big fans (to keep the cows cool), 2 staff rooms with all the stuff, fridge, tv ect and we pump all our own water.

So yea I think your paying too much, oh dont know if BK is the same but here the more you use the higher the rate.

[Bluecat]

here the more you use the higher the rate.

It is the same all over Thailand.

The electricity provider is still a monopoly, no neeed to make differences in between different parts of Thailand.

[Phil Conners]

One floor house, 4 new aircon's used as necessary (energy concious, child of the 60'es energy crisis in Europe), fridge, freezer, computers, TV's, two water heaters, light ... about 2500/month.

[RDN]

here the more you use the higher the rate.

Anyone know what the rate figures are, or where they are published? It looks from my old bills that the more you use, the higher the rate:

Bangkok one bedroom condo, two aircons, front loading washing machine:

Month Units Cost Rate

11/2002 629 1647 2.62

12/2002 715 1903 2.66

01/2003 583 1510 2.59

02/2003 701 1862 2.66

03/2003 870 2365 2.72

04/2003 876 2383 2.72

05/2003 500 1263 2.53

06/2003 487 1224 2.51

07/2003 451 1117 2.48

08/2003 239 518 2.17

09/2003 222 471 2.12

[Davidcharles]

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?

Jimbo! DON'T check your meter. Lucky Sod.......

[Davidcharles]

We live in Issan, just 2 people, 1 fridge, 1 water heater, and 1 tv. Usually, about 250 b per month. Two years ago the electric meter broke. I looked at it, it said weather proof but had 2 inches of water in it. We told the poo yai baan and he said not to worry about it. After a year, a guy from the electric company came and said we have to fill out a form to get a new meter. He said it would cost 400 baht for a new meter but we wouldnt have to pay for any power we have used. Its been another year and still not fixed! Mai pen lai....No one seems to care,least of all, me. Oh, by the way, I just bought an air conditioner!

ANOTHER lucky Sod!!!!

Why doesn't that sort of thing ever happen to me???????

[Doisaketmoobaan]

In Chiang Mai direct from Government bill bill we pay between 2.6% and 2.8% coming from the so called energy crisis in Southern California this is a bargain. So are my house taxes here a 1 time fee

[possom]

have just checked my bill, and looks like the unit price is 2.66 baht ,have only got receipts for previous bills,so i cant check those . this is paying direct to the government. i know some people in our building (bangkok)pay direct to the office downstairs,presume they pay a little more .

[p1p]

The first month after I took over my restaurant, the electricity bill, (to be paid by the old owner) was over 22,000 Baht. On taking over we cleaned all the refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. (Previously they were filthy.) The electricity bill fell to 10,300 Baht.

Make sure your equipment is clean.

At home we run an assortment of refrigeration, air conditioning, water pumps, TVs, computers, garden lights and other electrical equipment and generally pay about 5-6,000 Baht a month. Most bulbs are now the low(ish) wattage neon type and we are constantly cleaning our equipment. We also never run an airconditioner if a fan will suffice.

[lopburi3]

Electric Charge Table

The above link should bring up a fairly current charge rate table but there is an additional charge for fuel that changes fairly often which will make the true rates paid higher. I paid about 3.7 baht per KWH on an 8,000 baht bill last month.

[Mr_Pedantic]

Very interesting to read everyone's comments. So I thought I'd add mine.

I had my first 3000 baht + electric bill last month due to using all three aircons to cope with the night heat.(Shame they don't have the reduced night rate as in UK)

My lowest bill was 1500 baht in January when my eldest daughter was up North visiting the family and of course the weather was very pleasant and cool most of the time.

In additon to the three aircons I have 2 water heaters, water pump, 3 TV's, DVD, VCD, Hi Fi and Video and Computer on most of the time.

The higher rate of use increases the tax hence the fluctuation in unit cost.

Places of business including apartment blocks have to pay a higher rate for units/tax ,so I'm told, this is why tenants end up paying 4-5 baht per unit.

After reading the rest of your comments I won't moan so much about my electric bill just have to train my teenage daughter that she doesn't need 14 lights on in the front room and reduce the hour she spends having a shower or whatever she does in the bathroom for so long.

[Tornado]

We live in Issan, just 2 people, 1 fridge, 1 water heater, and 1 tv. Usually, about 250 b per month. Two years ago the electric meter broke. I looked at it, it said weather proof but had 2 inches of water in it. We told the poo yai baan and he said not to worry about it. After a year, a guy from the electric company came and said we have to fill out a form to get a new meter. He said it would cost 400 baht for a new meter but we wouldnt have to pay for any power we have used. Its been another year and still not fixed! Mai pen lai....No one seems to care,least of all, me. Oh, by the way, I just bought an air conditioner!

I like that!

I think that should be placed in the thread "what I love about Thailand"...

[Tornado]

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? Ngor maak maak

no he does not.

he is a sparky though, I will let you know in two weeks, when the bill comes - I am hopeing anyway

[davethailand]

mine is between 2500 and 3000 bht per month but we are now in the new house which i estimate will be between 3500 and 4000bht per month.

in my business the april bill was 34000bht for one month and mays bill was 29000bht, i say this because its normally between 22000 and 26000bht.

[ayakiawe]

OK once my electric bill went from 100-150 baht per month (YES TRUE FOR SURE I HAVE THE BILLS TO PROVE IT) to well over 500 baht per month.

Wow I could not figure out what happened for the longest time!

By the way for me sleeping with air-con is out of the question, it plain makes me sick. You ALL MUST BE MADE OF IRON!

If the house needs this (AC) I move first!

Proper design is the key to a cool house. The new Thai buildings didn’t quite get it right and thus suck electric way way too much!

So anyways I told my TGF to find out what’s up with this high bill!

She had the Thai electric company come out and they found nothing wrong.

She had a local Thai electrician come out with the same results wouldn’t you know it!

They just said the RATES ARE GOING UP AND BLA, BLA, BLA KIND OF CRAP THEY ALWAYS SAY, TALKING LIKE THEY REALLY KNOW WHATS UP BUT ACTUALLY DONT HAVE A f.... CLUE!

Finally about a year later a friend who is a Farang (SORRY BUT SHOW ME A THAI WHO COULD HELP ME OUT with something high tech like this AND I WILL VOTE HIM FOR PM) and an electrician found out that the grounding wire from the main fuse box was sending a constant stream of electricity into the ground.

This took him a whole 5 mins of trouble shooting.

We disconnected it and walla the problem solved!

I PAID FOR A YEAR OF UN-NEEDED HIGH ELECTRIC BILLS!

It cost me an extra 300 baht per month for nothing!

Thanks our lucky stars for the Farangs in this country I don’t know how it would get by other wise!

They should offer free visas for life and salaries to Farangs just to keep the place from falling apart!

Maybe one of those Elite cards for free too?

Don’t you agree! Maybe throw in a free wife, one rai and house too while you are at it?

[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?

no he does not.

he is a sparky though, I will let you know in two weeks, when the bill comes - I am hopeing anyway

How much bread did you buy ? Seriously though, it'll only help if your fridge's insulation is no good .

[RDN]

Electric Charge Table

The above link should bring up a fairly current charge rate table but there is an additional charge for fuel that changes fairly often which will make the true rates paid higher.  I paid about 3.7 baht per KWH on an 8,000 baht bill last month.

Where DO you get all these great links from? I will study all my bills and see what I can figure out.

One question for you (or other expert): what does "Ft" or "FT" refer to on my electric bill?

There is a line on my bill that says: "ค่า Ft 0.03828 บาท/หน่วย", which I have translated to mean "Fee Ft 0.38 baht/unit". Who is "Ft".

[Tornado]

QUOTE]How much bread did you buy ? Seriously though, it'll only help if your fridge's insulation is no good .

put it this way, I have enough bread (3 freezers full ) to have toast every morning for the rest of this year

[RDN]

Electric Charge Table

Thanks for the link. My old Bkk apartment electricity costs work out exactly according to those figures - they even rounded up or down the fraction of a baht correctly!

[lopburi3]

There is a line on my bill that says: "ค่า Ft 0.03828 บาท/หน่วย", which I have translated to mean "Fee Ft 0.38 baht/unit". Who is "Ft".

That is the extra fuel (tax?) fee which changes by the fuel type used but in general is like any other tax - goes up with time.

[KevinN]

AYA said;;If the house needs this (AC) I move first!

Proper design is the key to a cool house. The new Thai buildings didn’t quite get it right and thus suck electric way way too much!""

Heat in the house with the windows open is directly proportionate to the ambient temperature of the air coming in from outside,and to lower the temp. in the house below this temp. seems impossible to do to me.

The only way to cool the house below the ambient temp. would be to close the windows and run the air con. I would think.

If I am wrong,Please tell me how to do it.

[Roger13]

Forget your TV, Lights, CD players.

Why has nobody mentioned:

PRESSING IRONS, KETTLES & HOT PLATES

They really use power.

And RDN hit the nail on the head

The TEMPERATURE SETTING on your AirCon.

WHAT TEMP DO YOU SET ?

I usually have 23 or 24C

Putting your a/c Temperature Setting up just one degree

can significantly lower your bill for the month …

Leases for Apartment Blocks invariably include a clause

In which you AGREE to pay Bht 6.00 (or 5.00) per unit.

I now pay about Bht 1,700 for two bed apart using one a/c

and pay my bill direct (Bht 2.67 + ft + vat).

But my previous slightly larger apart I had to pay

Bht 6,000 to the Apartment Management.(Bht6.00 per unit)

Roger

[Up2U]

By the way for me sleeping with air-con is out of the question, it plain makes me sick. You ALL MUST BE MADE OF IRON!

Finally about a year later a friend who is a Farang and an electrician found out that the grounding wire from the main fuse box was sending a constant stream of electricity into the ground.

This took him a whole 5 mins of trouble shooting.

We disconnected it and walla the problem solved.

I never sleep with the A/C on either - which causes problems with the wife.

It can lead to rheumatism and all sorts of other annoying minor ailments.

Now that your earth connection is disconnected, how does your water-heater operate (assuming you have one). Very dangerous without an effective earth-link set-up (ELB or similar)

[Kan Win]

Electric Charge Table

The above link should bring up a fairly current charge rate table but there is an additional charge for fuel that changes fairly often which will make the true rates paid higher.  I paid about 3.7 baht per KWH on an 8,000 baht bill last month.

Where DO you get all these great links from? I will study all my bills and see what I can figure out.

One question for you (or other expert): what does "Ft" or "FT" refer to on my electric bill?

There is a line on my bill that says: "ค่า Ft 0.03828 บาท/หน่วย", which I have translated to mean "Fee Ft 0.38 baht/unit". Who is "Ft".

Hope this helps ? Mai Loo, What to Doo ???

http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/dictunit/dictunit.htm

Power

Since power is a measure of the rate at which work is done, the underlying units are those of work or energy, and that section should be looked at for explanations concerning the calorie and Btu. In this section the (IT) values have been used.

In this section it is the horsepower which provides confusion. Just like the calorie, it can take 5 different values, and these are identified as necessary by the addition of (boiler), (electric), (metric), (UK) and (water). Unlike the calorie (whose 5 values are reasonably close to each other), the horsepower has 4 which are close and 1 (boiler) which is considerably different - it is about 13 times bigger than the others - but it seems to be very little used.

The S I unit of power is the watt. To change any of these other units of energy or work into their equivalent values in watts use the operation and conversion factor given. Those marked with # are exact. Other values are given to an appropriate degree of accuracy.

Btu/hour x 0.293 071

Btu/minute x 17.584 267

Btu/second x 1055.056

calories/hour x 0.001 163 #

calories/minute x 0.069 78 #

calories/second x 4.1868 #

ft lb-force/minute x 0.022 597

ft lb-force/second x 1.355 82

gigawatts [GW] x 1 000 000 000

horsepower (electric) x 746 #

horsepower (metric) x 735.499

watts [W] 1

joules/hour divide by 3600 #

joules/minute divide by 60 #

joules/second 1

kilocalories/hour x 1.163

kilocalories/minute x 69.78

kg-force metres/hour x 0.002 724

kg-force metres/minute x 0.163 444

kilowatts [kW] x 1000 #

megawatts [MW] x 1 000 000 #

I'm in the Dark with this one !!!!

[RDN]

There is a line on my bill that says: "ค่า Ft 0.03828 บาท/หน่วย", which I have translated to mean "Fee Ft 0.38 baht/unit". Who is "Ft"?

That is the extra fuel (tax?) fee which changes by the fuel type used but in general is like any other tax - goes up with time.

It's odd that the only part of the bill that's in English is the line with the two letters "FT" (Fuel Tax). I would have thought there was an equivalent Thai phrase to cover it. Maybe they just want to blame the English for it

[ChiangMaiThai]

So it seems that the cost per unit is not more than 3 baht. But if you pay my landlord, its 5 baht. Maybe I will tell him that I'll take care of making the payment next time.

By the way, a few months back we weren't at home at all and the bill was still 5000 baht. I said 'that's bull#hit' but the meter indeed indicated 1000 units. I was about to pay and then decided to turn off everything in the house and unplug everything too. I went and looked at the meter and it was turning like there was no tomorrow.

We got a fix it guy out here who tinkered with the meter and declared it fixed. Who knows if it really is. At any rate, the landlord told me I only had to pay 3000 because their broken meter overcharged me by 4000 or more. TIT.

So we've got landlords charging a 150% premium, meters rigged to run at three times normal speed and friends next door borrowing a little power from time to time.

But we're all rich farangs so who cares. Right? I'm going to request to pay 8 baht a minute. I feel bad about the poor Thai owner pocketing only 150% profit.

[Bluecat]

and friends next door borrowing a little power from time to time.

Pity you do not live in the same street than me.

We could share.

The other night I switched off the electricity at my place (main switch), the whole street went dark,...