Why did our electricity bill go up so much?

[JCP108]

Our monthly electricity bill for our apartment in Bangkok has forever been 800-1,000 baht/month. For the past three months, it's been over 1,500 each month. Same electricity usage. All the neighbors report the same level of increase of fees. Can't find any explanation for this in the English language Thai publications. 

[MJCM]

Question please

 

do you get the electric bill directly from the electric company or do you get the bill from the Condo management? If the latter then ask them if they increased the price.

 

 

[CharlieH]

14 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Question please

 

do you get the electric bill directly from the electric company or do you get the bill from the Condo management? If the latter then ask them if they increased the price.

 

 

Therein lies the root of the issue.

 

I'll bet its the management loading it.

[Crossy]

25 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Therein lies the root of the issue.

I'll bet its the management loading it.

 

Yup, because the rest of us have been suffering from various "covid" discounts on power.

 

@JCP108could you post images of your last 3 bills please (obscure any identifying details).

 

Do note that the last 3 months have been somewhat hot and all cooling appliances will have been working harder and using more juice.

[Crossy]

This is our energy consumption for the last 12 months or so.

 

The red plot is the total of our solar plus grid power. Do you see a pattern? We are actually slightly down on last year due to less A/C whilst WFH.

 

[johng]

They gave me a whopping 14 unit discount for June  about enough for 1 beer ????

[steven100]

3 minutes ago, johng said:

They gave me a whopping 14 unit discount for June  about enough for 1 beer ????

one beer on them .....   lol

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, johng said:

They gave me a whopping 14 unit discount for June  about enough for 1 beer ????

 

Yeah, we got no discount whatever due to using less than in April.

 

The system of discounting isn't really fair, but it's what they are doing.

[KhunBENQ]

Got 200 Baht discount for the poor ????

(bill is in the name of the daughter)

Nothing exceptional here.

From the depth of bloody cold Isan winter to baking hot May.

Edited June 30, 2021 by KhunBENQ

[JCP108]

11 hours ago, MJCM said:

Question please

 

do you get the electric bill directly from the electric company or do you get the bill from the Condo management? If the latter then ask them if they increased the price.

 

 

Bill comes directly from the electric company. No increase in usage. 

[JCP108]

10 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Yup, because the rest of us have been suffering from various "covid" discounts on power.

 

@JCP108could you post images of your last 3 bills please (obscure any identifying details).

 

Do note that the last 3 months have been somewhat hot and all cooling appliances will have been working harder and using more juice.

I don't have the bills as I'm out of the country right now. No increase in usage.

[lopburi3]

9 minutes ago, JCP108 said:

I don't have the bills as I'm out of the country right now. No increase in usage.

But is that based on units used or just that your not using more items?  You say bills are not available but they will provide full details of all charges including any extra charge for generating electric as well as the exact number of units used.

It has been exceptionally hot and humid but with very little rain to cool things off this year.

Edited June 30, 2021 by lopburi3

[JCP108]

7 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

But is that based on units used or just that your not using more items?  You say bills are not available but they will provide full details of all charges including any extra charge for generating electric as well as the exact number of units used.

It has been exceptionally hot and humid but with very little rain to cool things off this year.

Not more items. Same units.

[lopburi3]

3 minutes ago, JCP108 said:

Not more items. Same units.

In that case perhaps you had been receiving a special Covid reduction that has come to an end?  My bill is 9 or 10k per month so never got much in that regard but both my last two receipts (23rd of month in Bangkok) have the same electric extra charge percentage. 

[JCP108]

46 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

In that case perhaps you had been receiving a special Covid reduction that has come to an end?  My bill is 9 or 10k per month so never got much in that regard but both my last two receipts (23rd of month in Bangkok) have the same electric extra charge percentage. 

That would make sense. However, we've been in the same apartment for years. The electric bill has been stable for much, much longer than the time of the pandemic. About the same monthly for years...now up significantly in the past three months. Neighbors are reporting the same. 

[Crossy]

9 hours ago, JCP108 said:

Bill comes directly from the electric company. No increase in usage. 

 

Without the bills and a couple of earlier ones we really can't help much.

 

Are you with MEA or PEA (blue or orange bill)? Both have Apps that feature consumption history.

[tonray]

10 hours ago, JCP108 said:

I don't have the bills as I'm out of the country right now. No increase in usage.

Does your neighbor have a new 60 inch LCD TV ?

[1FinickyOne]

out in the countryside w/high consumption accessories, and the bills are up 50% from last year.. someone told me it is a tax on high users and what sounded to be temporary... now that hot season has passed... last month we were down off peak prices... but there is a phone number to call on the bill... 

[Crossy]

5 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

someone told me it is a tax on high users

 

Nope. It's really just that you are using more (although the cost per unit does rise somewhat with very large usage).

 

Check your bill against previous ones (say December).

 

Our PEA bill has the previous 5 readings and all the headers are dual language, easy enough to see what's going on.

[Steffan]

My bill went from 800 to almost 3000. Directly billed from pea

[SAFETY FIRST]

23 hours ago, JCP108 said:

For the past three months, it's been over 1,500 each month

PEA capped mine for the last 3 months. 

Huge savings 

[JCP108]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

 

Nope. It's really just that you are using more (although the cost per unit does rise somewhat with very large usage).

 

Check your bill against previous ones (say December).

 

Our PEA bill has the previous 5 readings and all the headers are dual language, easy enough to see what's going on.

Units are about the same.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Without the bills and a couple of earlier ones we really can't help much.

 

Are you with MEA or PEA (blue or orange bill)? Both have Apps that feature consumption history.

Different houses have very different usage patterns 

here are ours. 

however mum’s over the same period are very different 

the houses are within 500M so the climate is almost exactly the same

[Crossy]

As noted earlier, without the bills (or the detail from the app) we really can't see what's going on here.

 

@JCP108 I'm assuming someone is living in the condo, can they send you photos of the bills which you can post after redacting the personal info?

 

[vandeventer]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:34 AM, johng said:

They gave me a whopping 14 unit discount for June  about enough for 1 beer ????

Maybe they put up your electric bill to give you a little discount? To show you they care?

[thcosh]

same units and same price per unit cannot increase the bill...

I guess that "Someone" told you that it's higher and that you have to pay it without seeing the bills that you are not even able to provide here...

 

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by thcosh

[jomtienisgood]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:15 AM, Crossy said:

 

Yup, because the rest of us have been suffering from various "covid" discounts on power.

 

@JCP108could you post images of your last 3 bills please (obscure any identifying details).

 

Do note that the last 3 months have been somewhat hot and all cooling appliances will have been working harder and using more juice.

Yes indeed, and probably less obvious are fridges and freezers... 

[natway09]

You say no increase in usage but there must be.

When your fridge & aircon are on the compressors will cut in when needed.

I listened to my air con compressor in the village last time up there & the cpmpressor only ran for 11 minutes in the hour, time before was over 20 min.  It is all about the ambient temperature, fridge similar situation plus how often door opened & product  loadings

You cannot control this except by turning them off or turning the thermostat up

I run both my aircons at 28dc & find with the dehumidifying effect as well as cooling it is comfortable

[BritManToo]

19 hours ago, JCP108 said:

I don't have the bills as I'm out of the country right now. No increase in usage.

If you don't have the bills and aren't in Thailand ........ how do you know the bill has gone up?

Is it a woman telling tales of woe?

 

My buffalo is sick, my mother needs an operation, my electricity bill is inexplicably higher ..........

Edited July 1, 2021 by BritManToo

[johng]

5 hours ago, vandeventer said:

Maybe they put up your electric bill to give you a little discount? To show you they care?

I used  less electricity  505 units in June  opposed to 514 units in May.

I think I read somewhere that people who use under 500 units get a bigger discount

also  those who use less than 90 units ( maybe 50 ? )  get their electric free  I know it used to be 50 units  but then was increased and lowered again then had to be  low for 3 months  and then head spins round and round ????