electricity bill markup

[squire1]

Everyone knows that marking up electricity is now illegal for 5 units or more, but why has nothing changed. As far as I can see Thais and Felangs are still getting ripped off. Just recently i was charged 11 bart per unit for electicity.

Has anyone complained or taken their inflated bill to the local elec authority.

Seems pointless passing a law that is roundly ignored.

The obvoius way to challenge this is to save ur bills from over confident lanlords and when u have left get ur Thai partner to take them to the PEA.

Is anyone prepared to do this? Is anyone prepared to strike a blow for the whiteman?

I wish i could do this but i dont have a Thai partner and i dont get receipts

[scubascuba3]

The best thing to do is only move into a place that passes on govt rates, guesthouses charging 8+ baht a unit should be a thing of the past

[Pib]

PEA (the electric company) are billing your landlord at the PEA rate which is probably around 4 to 5 baht/KWH.   Based on your post it sounds like the landlord presents you with a "landlord-generated" bill and not the actual PEA bill.   Depending on what type of facility your are living in, like a multi-story apartment building, the PEA could possibly be reading the master meter for the building (it just reflects total usage of the entire building) and all other meters used by the building/landlord are landlord installed and read by the landlord to divide out the building's electric bill to the residents of the building at whatever electri rate the landlords uses (legal or illegal).  

 

Since the PEA is not involved in the landlord-installed meters and associated billing they wouldn't be able to provide you any assistance....they wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole.  They would probably refer you to the police or some other govt agency to file a complaint.

[AgMech Cowboy]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

the PEA could possibly be reading the master meter for the building (it just reflects total usage of the entire building) and all other meters used by the building/landlord are landlord installed and read by the landlord to divide out the building's electric bill to the residents of the building at whatever electri rate the landlords uses (legal or illegal).  

Hi @Pib That was very informative. No application to me, but it sure clears up some old history (not bad history, just interesting to learn).

[zib]

They just do it so they can keep the rent low since thats what you look for when searching for a place to stay. If they dropped to gov rates they would just increase your rent to match it.

[Andy from Kent]

3 hours ago, Pib said:

Since the PEA is not involved in the landlord-installed meters and associated billing they wouldn't be able to provide you any assistance....they wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole.  They would probably refer you to the police or some other govt agency to file a complaint.

 

Or in other words absolutely nothing would change.

[Pib]

See below partial quote...see weblink for full info.  

 

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2018/05/16/thai-law-landlord-not-playing-by-new-rules-heres-what-to-do/

Partal quote

Quote

 

A prohibited surcharge on electricity and water is another area of contention. Renters well-versed in the current requirements of the law for the charge of the utility at cost would challenge those extra bills. Mark-ups on electricity have been a considerable source of income for the lessors—in some cases it is a double from 5 baht per unit of electricity to 10 baht; they don’t want to see this steady cash flow evaporate overnight. Tap water is cheap as it is subsidized by the waterworks authorities; each room will not incur more than 100 baht per month, a prevalent opportunity for some lessors to triple it to 300 baht.

Again, what is the recourse for the renter? A distress call to the consumer protection office hotline or firing a web complaint into the ether? Probably best to get a Thai friend on the phone for a common understanding of the nature of the complaint between you and the officer. Frequent visits by the consumer protection officials to the apartment building in response to multiple telephone complaints would not do the lessor any good.

 

 

[Max69xl]

21 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

The best thing to do is only move into a place that passes on govt rates, guesthouses charging 8+ baht a unit should be a thing of the past

You can be quite sure you're getting ripped off when you don't get the original bill from PEA/MEA from your landlord or condominium office.

[Andy from Kent]

20 hours ago, Max69xl said:

You can be quite sure you're getting ripped off when you don't get the original bill from PEA/MEA from your landlord or condominium office.

 

If the power company bills the building  based on the main meter, how could each individual sub-meter be billed separately?  Where I live we each receive a monthly KWH usage and then are billed at a rate of 4.5฿ /KWH.   I think that's the government rate or at least I hope so.      They  bill the same  way with water usage.

[Pib]

27 minutes ago, Andy from Kent said:

 

If the power company bills the building  based on the main meter, how could each individual sub-meter be billed separately?  Where I live we each receive a monthly KWH usage and then are billed at a rate of 4.5฿ /KWH.   I think that's the government rate or at least I hope so.      They  bill the same  way with water usage.

Is your bill an "original" power company bill "with your name/spouse's name on it" as in you opened your electric acct with the electric company?  You didn't specify "who" generates your monthly bill bill....electric company or landlord.  You post implies to me you are not sure whose name your electric acct is registered under with the electric company.

 

Or maybe if you are renting, the landlord has electric company meters individually installed by and registered with the electric company....the bill has the landlord's name on it vs your name and the landlord has that bill delivered directly to your residence for payment.

 

 

[scubascuba3]

58 minutes ago, Pib said:

Is your bill an "original" power company bill "with your name/spouse's name on it" as in you opened your electric acct with the electric company?  You didn't specify "who" generates your monthly bill bill....electric company or landlord.  You post implies to me you are not sure whose name your electric acct is registered under with the electric company.

 

Or maybe if you are renting, the landlord has electric company meters individually installed by and registered with the electric company....the bill has the landlord's name on it vs your name and the landlord has that bill delivered directly to your residence for payment.

 

 

Maybe someone could post an example of a PEA bill?

[Pib]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Maybe someone could post an example of a PEA bill?

 

Here you go....something along this line

[scubascuba3]

32 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

Here you go....something along this line

10\10 thanks a lot.

 

Strange though, people were talking about using a QR code for paying, nothing on there?

[Pib]

27 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

10\10 thanks a lot.

 

Strange though, people were talking about using a QR code for paying, nothing on there?

Well, above PEA bill I grabbed from googling up an image...the date on that image/bill is 2557 (2014)...probably wasn't using QR codes then...just had the bar code.   I'm live in Bangkok and get my electricity from MEA and their bill is very, very similar....just different letter head, company name, etc.  MEA now has a QR code "and" a bar code on their bills....expect PEA does the same.  Typically with can scan either the bar code or QR code to make payment.

[soi3eddie]

On 8/7/2020 at 11:10 AM, squire1 said:

Everyone knows that marking up electricity is now illegal for 5 units or more, but why has nothing changed. As far as I can see Thais and Felangs are still getting ripped off. Just recently i was charged 11 bart per unit for electicity.

11 Baht per unit (KWH) is extreme and about 200+% of PEA rate. In most Thai style room apartments the Thais are charged 6-8 Baht per KWH by landlord and is usually added to monthly bill (rent, electricity and water) with number of units and price but they never show the unit price although it's easy to divide. Also, many of these Thai room buildings either have no AC or very old and chaep installations that are inefficient and power hungry.

[darrendsd]

The Electric company won't be able to do anything - its the landlord marking the bill up not them

 

I would imagine the Tessabahn are the people you need to see - I have visited their office twice for different reasons and they are very helpful - just before you go in there is a Tourist Office on the left - whilst this is not tourism related they do speak excellent English and will be able to translate the issue to the relevant Tessabahn department 

 

 

[moontang]

It's on every lease I have seen, if they are managing it....wouldn't it just be easier to not do business with parties marking up electric, than it would be to start a consumer protection crusade?  

[darrendsd]

Marking up any bill is now against the law

 

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2018/03/13/thai-law-what-landlords-must-quickly-do-or-go-to-jail/

[stouricks]

On 8/9/2020 at 3:13 PM, scubascuba3 said:

10\10 thanks a lot.

 

Strange though, people were talking about using a QR code for paying, nothing on there?

Try installing the PEA app on your phone with the relevant numbers inserted. Also, get an app called ECAS and read your own meter daily/weekly.