Well this is a bit of a strange one.

 

Electricity bills arrived this morning - everyone in the village commenting in the village Line group that they have seen a 40% jump in electricity usage and bills. We have also seen our usage and bill jump... even though we have spent roughly a week away. My wife just told me that many people across the country experienced the same thing and voiced this on the electricity authority's FB page.

 

A representative of the electricity authority has apparently explained why this has happened. Now I am not sure about my wife's translation but she is telling me the authority have said that the extreme hot weather has adversely affected the dynamo/power box that sits outside each house making it have to work much harder.... hence the higher bills. Can someone shed some light on this... has my missus got this right? The whole thing just sounds a little odd to me...

 

 

Until this really hot spell of the last few weeks our leccy bill has been around 1100 baht, we got the latest one yesterday and it has jumped to just over 1700 baht.

 

Monthly usage went upto 422 units, the previous high (last month) was 373, so an increase of 49 units, I refuse to be uncomfortable in the evening so we have the air on in the lounge while we eat & then on nearly all night in the bedroom until maybe 06.00 hrs, 1700 baht is cheaper than I paid in the UK for a lot less.

Usually my bill is 700-900 baht per month. This month it was 2300, admittedly we have been using the a/c a bit more because it's the hot season, but even so I was shocked. Now it's more expensive that my electric bill in the UK, which was around £40 a month. 

From my understanding, people have been getting discounts on their electric bill for a number of months now.  I know I have.  Perhaps those discounts have ended?  I guess I will find out when the next bill comes.

8 minutes ago, BenDeCosta said:

Usually my bill is 700-900 baht per month. This month it was 2300, admittedly we have been using the a/c a bit more because it's the hot season, but even so I was shocked. Now it's more expensive that my electric bill in the UK, which was around £40 a month. 

 

I complained about the same. Mine jumped to 2500 baht from 1400 baht .

 

we do not use aircon!

1 hour ago, Airalee said:

From my understanding, people have been getting discounts on their electric bill for a number of months now.  I know I have.

 

Maybe they are adding those discounts to other people bills.

 

 

Our consumption is definitely up over the last month or so, combination of the weather and the grandkids staying with us.

 

Nothing unusual really.

 

My Predict-O-Bill spreadsheet suggests a 30% increase this month over last and an almost doubling over Feb ????

 

Feb-Mar had a 9 Baht discount, Mar-Apr zero discount.

Check the bills for discounts, that will explain some of it.

 

Check unit usage, should have increased because it's hotter.

 

I'm suspicious they someones rig the bills if they've previously miscalculated or given wrong discounts.

 

either way everyone should be able to work it out looking at their most recent bills

6 hours ago, greenmonkey said:

Now I am not sure about my wife's translation but she is telling me the authority have said that the extreme hot weather has adversely affected the dynamo/power box that sits outside each house making it have to work much harder.... hence the higher bills.

 

Something lost in translation methinks.

 

The hot weather won't affect the meter, but it will make your A/C work harder and use more energy.

 

Even those who don't use A/C will likely be using more fans on higher settings and your fridge/freezer will be working harder in the heat.

 

I religiously log our daily consumption and solar power generation (ok the data logger does it), this year mirrors last year's consumption profile.

9 hours ago, Airalee said:

From my understanding, people have been getting discounts on their electric bill for a number of months now.  I know I have.  Perhaps those discounts have ended?  I guess I will find out when the next bill comes.

Your understanding is not correct. Any discount is shown on your bill, if there is no discount showing you don’t have one. 

3 hours ago, Crossy said:

Something lost in translation methinks.

 

The hot weather won't affect the meter, but it will make your A/C work harder and use more energy.

Humm our meter jumped so much (20,000 units ) that we have been getting a bill that is an average reading assessment for the last 2 bills 

 

going by the actual numbers our bill should be ฿109,000 higher than it actually is ????

4 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Humm our meter jumped so much (20,000 units ) that we have been getting a bill that is an average reading assessment for the last 2 bills 

 

Ouch. Are they going to replace the meter?

11 hours ago, Airalee said:

From my understanding, people have been getting discounts on their electric bill for a number of months now.  I know I have.  Perhaps those discounts have ended?  I guess I will find out when the next bill comes.

These jumps are after accounting for the discount. My missus said many of the Thai's are throwing around theories that the electricity authorities are somehow fixing the readings to get back some of the money lost due to the recent discounts but I can't see that. I remember exactly the same thing happened same time last year so most likely it is due to the hot weather.

11 hours ago, Airalee said:

Perhaps those discounts have ended?  I guess I will find out when the next bill comes.

They have. Last bill is "normal" as used to.

As the hot season started we have 350 units, cost 1416.85 Baht, 4.05 Baht/unit.

Nothing exceptional and next bill will be higher.

At the end of the cold season we had low consumption and the subsidy resulting in some 5xx Baht. A number never seen in 10 years.

 

I can't sit without aircon starting in the afternoon.

At this time of course highest power consumption.

Aircon in the night is less.

To say the obvious ????

 

And really: be aware that most Thai people have very limited idea about power consumption of different devices. They can hardly distinguish between a fan with less than 100W, electric barbeque or water heater with 2000W.

They have a vague idea that AC is expensive.

 

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

 

Ouch. Are they going to replace the meter?

We have only just got the second averaged bill yesterday, SWMBO has an intensive dislike of talking to officials so didn’t do anything about the first bill however I think I may be able to get her to talk to the PEA office next week and see what is going on. 

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Humm our meter jumped so much (20,000 units ) that we have been getting a bill that is an average reading assessment for the last 2 bills 

You have 605 units for 2562 Baht (av. 4.23 Baht).

What is unusual?

Double the price of lets say February?

Yes, why not. We are at almost triple (with the subsidy included).

 

11 hours ago, BenDeCosta said:

Now it's more expensive that my electric bill in the UK, which was around £40 a month. 

How much did you pay for heating/hot water in the UK ????

Yes electricity bill can be higher than at home country but I compare with the total energy cost in home country.

I lived in a country with some of the worlds highest electricity prices.

Now about 30 Eurocent per unit.

Here its about 4.3 Baht per unit, about 11 Eurocent.

6 hours ago, Crossy said:

Feb-Mar had a 9 Baht discount,

 

I take it you had a party set up right away

6 hours ago, Crossy said:

Feb-Mar had a 9 Baht discount, Mar-Apr zero discount.

We had a few hundred Baht discount. Maybe depending on total consumption?

Subsidy for small households, low consumption?

I forgot the details.

Our consumption history in cost and units.

You can clearly see a disproportional lowering of the price through the subsidy.

 

 

197 units for 535 Baht.

That's 2.7 Baht/unit. Way below the price table.

In January wished I had a heater ????

26 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

most Thai people have very limited idea about power consumption of different devices. They can hardly distinguish between a fan with less than 100W, electric barbeque or water heater with 2000W.

 

 

What utter twaddle.

5 minutes ago, n00dle said:

 

 

What utter twaddle.

You seem to be an experienced Thai expert from Soi 11.

Always good to be educated.

9 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

You seem to be an experienced Thai expert.

Always good to be educated.

 

Besides having a thai family, living here for over 20 years living and working amongst thais, and operating a few businesses and a construction project, I havent a clue.

 

But then i dont start sentences with open ended phrases like "most thais", or the "average thai".

 

I certainly dont make seemingly innocuous pronouncements which passive aggressively infer that thais are inherently stupid or lack the basic common sense to understand an ac unit uses more power than an led light.

People have been turning on the air-cond due to the extremely hot weather.

 

Air-cond use a lot of electricity.

3 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

You have 605 units for 2562 Baht (av. 4.23 Baht).

What is unusual?

Double the price of lets say February?

Yes, why not. We are at almost triple (with the subsidy included).

 

The previous reading was 60,010 the current reading is 84,477 giving a consumption of 24,467

 

so the bill would be ฿111,547.11 if it were not an average estimate.  That is rather unlikely not to say impossible  

3 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Our consumption history in cost and units.

You can clearly see a disproportional lowering of the price through the subsidy.

 

 

197 units for 535 Baht.

That's 2.7 Baht/unit. Way below the price table.

In January wished I had a heater ????

No you can’t you can see a reduction in consumption,  we have a similar drop in usage. There may have been a subsidy as well. 

Think i prefer the Hooters thread Pattaya vs Phuket.

Moving to Thailand to live , stay in a 1 bedroom 45sqm condo, if I run the air con 12-16 hrs a day how much approx do you think my bill will be ? They charge 9baht per unit ( I assume a unit is kw)?

 

water they charge 50 baht  per unit ( assume that 1 unit =1 Kl or 1000 litres ?

 

many thanks

2 minutes ago, darrenr said:

water they charge 50 baht  per unit ( assume that 1 unit =1 Kl or 1000 litres ?

Did you add an extra zero? Our water is 4 Baht and the unit is a cubic metre. 

I was gone 10 Days before I left I did not have anything like a/c On any more than usual and my bill went up a lot TIT