What could cause electric to double in kwh used for the month?

[Hal65]

Last month my electric bill was the highest ever, at a little over 1,500 baht. Normally it is around 1,100, and I pay 8 baht per kwh (unit). 

 

This month though, the electric was 2,800 baht. so almost double the previous high.

 

I live in a 30 sqm apartment. My usage hasn't changed. Actually it has gone down from the March through May period when it's the hottest.

 

Any idea what might cause such a large increase in usage?

 

My landlord said if it's very high again he will replace the meter. Could that be the issue?

 

I'm suspecting that there might be an electricity leakage somewhere. I don't know enough about this to really know if that's a realistic scenario though.

[bankruatsteve]

8 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

My landlord said if it's very high again he will replace the meter. Could that be the issue?

it could be.  (meter OR your landlord)

 

Do you have "Safe-T-Cut" in your breaker box?  If so, it's not likely you have a "leak".

Edited July 10, 2020 by bankruatsteve

[worgeordie]

Someone tapping into your meter, look at the meter see if anyone has added

extra wires to it.

regards worgeordie

[johng]

22 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

My landlord said if it's very high again he will replace the meter. Could that be the issue?

Ask if you can pay the PEA electricity rate  which is about 4 baht per unit (KWH)  also keep tabs on how many actual units of electricity you use not  what the landlord presents (invents)

 

7 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Someone tapping into your meter

Could well be....easy to find out   turn everything of at the breaker in the apartment and go look see if the meter is still spinning.

[OneeyedJohn]

There's some strange goings on with electricity lately.

For one we are having the highest bills ever, even with the discount.

 

And for another I am not convinced we get the power we are supposed to get, all I know is it takes for ever to cook a baked potato in the oven.

[kingofthemountain]

1 hour ago, Hal65 said:

Any idea what might cause such a large increase in usage?

Do you have guests?

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1170696-40-increase-ofthe-priceunit-on-my-electric-bill/

[Hal65]

I don't even know where the breaker is. I'm on the 3rd floor and there is only one meter next to mine. I will look into this though, thanks for the tip

[teatime101]

Probably not related but we had a huge jump in our electric bill in April/May. it was very hot and humid. We stopped using aircon the following month and cut our usage in half.

[herfiehandbag]

6 hours ago, Hal65 said:

Any idea what might cause such a large increase in usage?

Teenage daughter at home every day for 4 months whilst the schools were closed?

 

I honestly don't believe that she understands that switches have an "off" setting as well as an "on" setting!

 

I love her dearly, but sometimes...

Edited July 10, 2020 by herfiehandbag

[taninthai]

Why are you paying 8 bht a unit?.....I live 42sqm apartment and bill never over 500 bht......even with out the increase this month you are paying double the standard price for electric.

[Crossy]

15 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Teenage daughter at home every day for 4 months whilst the schools were closed?

I honestly don't believe that she understands that switches have an "off" setting as well as an "on" setting!

I love her dearly, but sometimes...

 

Tell me about it, we had our two pre-teen grandkids staying with us during the lockdown.

 

We have a big garden, pool, fast internet and loads of creatures for them to look after, far better than them staying in their small home.

 

Our power bill has literally halved (I'm one of those sad individuals who has a power logger) since they've gone back to school, far less aircon, two fewer PCs.

 

And the freezer seems to stay full longer too.

 

Love them to bits, but ...

[ScotBkk]

Have you been growing ganja? 

[Cake Monster]

The Electric here in Thailand is really weird.

Have had new Meters on Apartments running backwards ???? And Lights that need to ~ fill up ~ with power before they actually come on

One light comes on in the Lounge sometimes, and the other 3 take maybe as much as 5 minutes before they come on.

All on the same circuit and circuit has been checked ( all ok )

 

[tifino]

maybe therre had been an extensive string of kikyat Meter Estimations?

 - and finally an Actual Reading was taken?

[bodga]

17 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

I honestly don't believe that she understands that switches have an "off" setting as well as an "on" setting!

easily  remedied by  charging  her.

[AgMech Cowboy]

23 hours ago, OneeyedJohn said:

There's some strange goings on with electricity lately.

For one we are having the highest bills ever, even with the discount.

 

And for another I am not convinced we get the power we are supposed to get, all I know is it takes for ever to cook a baked potato in the oven.

????????And I paid 0 (zero) last month and still have a credit of 3900 baht. Yep, strange things. I'm glad I live in a house. ????

[NoshowJones]

Your Land lord is robbing you, the government rate is about 4 Bt per unit. 

I would be looking for a new property.

[xtrnuno41]

Switch off all power users in your apartment, just easy to switch the breakers, look at the metre, still running?

Someone hooked up on your meter.

You speak about the bill in money, not in increase of kWh. So what is on the bill in usage kWh?

It should be on the bill. You can check if the right amount of kWh is on the bill, check with your meter.

Check notations on other bills. Error in reading the metre right? Additional add ons in your bill?

 

1300 bath more is 1300/8= 162.5 kWh more per month. 162500 Wh/ 30 days = 5416,67 Wh/day = 5416.67 Wh/ 24h= 225 Watts/h.

This is a continuous situation. You forgot a machine running all the time? Cant imagine in a 30 sqm flat, you wouldnt know.

Your fridge is broken, though it still cools. but running all the time? Something wrong in the cooling system? Or with airco like wise?

If there is no other hook up there could be a malfunction in the wiring with a resistance consuming that power, not breaking down.

From metre to your apartment or in your apartment. In your apartment you should smell though.

Maybe someone opened your metre and "fixed" something to run it faster or it's out of alignment(failure)? Replace metre. 

 

 

[Grusa]

2 hours ago, bodga said:

easily  remedied by  charging  her.

USB, 12v, or Mains?

[sead]

21 hours ago, Hal65 said:

I don't even know where the breaker is. I'm on the 3rd floor and there is only one meter next to mine. I will look into this though, thanks for the tip

Well the breaker is the one that has the kW same as your bill. When you pay the bill I hope the landlord is writing down how much kW you're spending

[Bob A Kneale]

On 7/10/2020 at 4:23 PM, Hal65 said:

Last month my electric bill was the highest ever, at a little over 1,500 baht. Normally it is around 1,100, and I pay 8 baht per kwh (unit). 

 

This month though, the electric was 2,800 baht. so almost double the previous high.

 

I live in a 30 sqm apartment. My usage hasn't changed.

"...I pay 8 baht per kwh (unit) ... My usage hasn't changed".

If you have used the same number of units and the rate per unit hasn't changed it is not possible for the amount payable to have changed, obviously. One of the variables must have changed.

 

Changing the meter won't help if the indicated units used hasn't changed, as you claim, the meter doesn't calculate the baht amount of the bill.

 

"What could cause electric to double in kwh used for the month?"The title of your OP doesn't match the rest of it.  Have the KwH (units used) changed or not?

Edited July 11, 2020 by Bob A Kneale

[ripstanley]

3 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Your Land lord is robbing you, the government rate is about 4 Bt per unit. 

I would be looking for a new property.

And for the last 3 months the PEA/MEA have been giving a 3% discount. The land lord is ripping you off.

[Bob A Kneale]

48 minutes ago, sead said:

Well the breaker is the one that has the kW same as your bill.

I always thought that was the meter?

[BritManToo]

On 7/10/2020 at 5:03 PM, OneeyedJohn said:

And for another I am not convinced we get the power we are supposed to get, all I know is it takes for ever to cook a baked potato in the oven.

4-6 minutes in the microwave.

[darksidedog]

A post in all capital letters has been removed, as have two quoted replies pointing out that this is against forum rules.

Use of our forums

While we make allowances for members who do not speak English as their first language, we expect everyone to make an effort to post in a manner which allows others to understand their posts. Posts full of intentional misspellings, all caps, no caps, or similar slang may be deleted in order to preserve a standard of readability. This is a forum, not an SMS or Twitter message.

Please report such posts rather than comment on them publicly in the forum. Thank you.

[Hal65]

I took a look at the meter today and 8 kwh (units) of usage in a single day, down from the 13 or so daily average of last month but still higher than the 4-5 it should normally be at.

 

Also we can see the meter is spinning way faster than the meters of the adjacent two units. A walk around confirmed almost nothing was on in my apartment at the time it was spinning so fast.

 

My landlord called for an electrician to come tomorrow to inspect the source of the problem.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Hal65

[Sundown]

1 hour ago, Hal65 said:

I took a look at the meter today and 8 kwh (units) of usage in a single day, down from the 13 or so daily average of last month but still higher than the 4-5 it should normally be at.

 

Also we can see the meter is spinning way faster than the meters of the adjacent two units. A walk around confirmed almost nothing was on in my apartment at the time it was spinning so fast.

 

My landlord called for an electrician to come tomorrow to inspect the source of the problem.

Did you check the water heater? If it's on max heat it will never turn off automatically and skyrocket your bill, it happened to me when I rented a villa. I'm speaking about traditional water heaters, if you live in condo it's less likely that you have one but who knows..

[Hal65]

12 minutes ago, Sundown said:

Did you check the water heater? If it's on max heat it will never turn off automatically and skyrocket your bill, it happened to me when I rented a villa. I'm speaking about traditional water heaters, if you live in condo it's less likely that you have one but who knows..

I live in an apartment and my water temp seems to have a mind of its own. I don't have any adjustments on my side

[LivinLOS]

15 hours ago, AgMech Cowboy said:

????????And I paid 0 (zero) last month and still have a credit of 3900 baht. Yep, strange things. I'm glad I live in a house. ????

Yeah I got no discount in May (highish average bill), as we were publicised to get, no bill in June at all, but now a large bill (50% higher) in July when we were not in the property !!  Tho it does have pool pumps and things that run anyway.

This is our own meter on own home at PEA rate.

[Henryford]

11 hours ago, Hal65 said:

I took a look at the meter today and 8 kwh (units) of usage in a single day, down from the 13 or so daily average of last month but still higher than the 4-5 it should normally be at.

 

Also we can see the meter is spinning way faster than the meters of the adjacent two units. A walk around confirmed almost nothing was on in my apartment at the time it was spinning so fast.

 

My landlord called for an electrician to come tomorrow to inspect the source of the problem.

You must have a breaker somewhere in your apartment (to turn off the power). Turn that off and then check if the meter is still spinning.