Electric Bill Anomaly in Bangkok

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, JuanMatus said:

yes, we all have new meters and the company is MEA here.  I purposely ran one A/C almost all day during march and the bill was 2100 baht.  That's fine as this was my baseline.  Yes, I can calculate the total expense as it's high-school level knowledge for me.

 

If your guesstimate comes out as less than MEA are asking for then fight it. Otherwise just cough up.

[SAFETY FIRST]

23 minutes ago, JuanMatus said:

I'm a newbie in this country and learning as I go

Welcome Newbie. 

 

I'd like to make you aware of an issue that I see regularly regarding electric meters and billing.

 

If you decide to rent accommodation make sure you can pay the electricity bill direct to the service provider, eg. PEA. 

 

A common COMPLAINT I see on this forum is paying your electric bill through a landlord (3rd party), you can be over charged.

Paying directly to the service provider is a cheaper option most of the time. 

 

 

 

 

[JuanMatus]

I am paying directly as it was the absolute minimum I'd agree to and even my wife, who is a college graduate, wouldn't compromise on.  One more reason why I did not want to rent anything but a house.  No need to think about that.

[treetops]

6 hours ago, JuanMatus said:

I am paying directly as it was the absolute minimum I'd agree to and even my wife, who is a college graduate, wouldn't compromise on.

Your bill description earlier in the thread and your lack of response to a posted sample bill don't back up the statement that you are paying direct.  Can you clarify?

Edited April 10, 2022 by treetops

[dj230]

On 4/10/2022 at 12:12 AM, DUS said:

That sounds very cheap if you have 2 ac’s on 24/7. I have 1 of 3 acs on roughly 8-10 hrs a day and pay slightly less than you. A friend of mine with 2 acs on 24/7 tells me he pays around 7-8k a month. Ah, the joy of living in TH :)))

does he get the bill direct from the government or is he getting billed by his landlord? 7-8k a month sounds like a scam, does his room face the west? or does he have it on 18C or does he mine bitcoin? 

 

my ac's on ridiculous temperatures sometimes because my girlfriend, I wake up and it's 21c and the most it's been is 2000 baht, from what I was told from real estate agents two ac units on 24/7 is usually 2000 baht or less in condos (35sq/m). They showed me some clients AC bills, all in the range of 1000-2000 baht/month

 

16 hours ago, KannikaP said:

A 9600 BTU a/c will take about 500 watts per hour if it is functioning correctly and going on & off as required. That's 12 units per day x 30 days = 360 units @ Bht 4 per unit = about 1500. So good.

Why would a house's electricity cost more than a condo? Unless you were running far more appliances.

I was thinking that cooling a home would require more energy than cooling a condo due to size, maybe the inverter AC units are different, in Canada most houses used HVAC units and the smaller the home the less energy you would use. 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by dj230

[robblok]

13 hours ago, Crossy said:

It's very difficult to compare other people's usage with what yours "should be".

 

For example, we use around 35kWh per day, inverter A/C only at night and we don't have a pet penguin (set to 26C).

 

Our biggest single power user - Madam's ruddy koi pond ???? 

 

Luckily we have a big chunk of solar so we are not paying PEA for 80% of our usage.

That is for sure I always had high bills, but i work from home. So my computer with 3 screens probably takes a lot of energy. I moved and now my bills are over 11k per month electricity. Thankfully I am not paying for it. Really bad aircons in this house and a pool. 

 

But my other home was small and i owned it I had the best inverter aircons I could find and ran an aircon at night for sleeping at 22-23 and one during the day at 27 (it would blow on me from the back so could not set it much colder was no need). Plus a computer running and big fridge. 6000+ on average. 

 

Though it really depends on how your house cools and where yur house is sun wise.

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, dj230 said:

does he get the bill direct from the government or is he getting billed by his landlord? 7-8k a month sounds like a scam, does his room face the west? or does he have it on 18C or does he mine bitcoin? 

 

my ac's on ridiculous temperatures sometimes because my girlfriend, I wake up and it's 21c and the most it's been is 2000 baht, from what I was told from real estate agents two ac units on 24/7 is usually 2000 baht or less in condos (35sq/m). They showed me some clients AC bills, all in the range of 1000-2000 baht/month

 

I was thinking that cooling a home would require more energy than cooling a condo due to size, maybe the inverter AC units are different, in Canada most houses used HVAC units and the smaller the home the less energy you would use. 

 

 

Of course, cooling, or in Canada..heating a larger room will take more energy, same as feeding a fat woman will cost more!   LOL

[JuanMatus]

On 4/9/2022 at 9:12 AM, dj230 said:

Not sure about houses but in apartments usually electricity bills are inflated, in condo's they're not

 

If you're getting the bill straight from the government I don't see how it would be incorrect, although if the meter was broken I'm not sure how they would have been able to measure it.

 

6800 baht isn't that much for 3 months, I think mine is usually around 1500 in a condo with 2 ac's on 24/7, I'm guessing it would cost more for a house's electricity.  

 

What does your electricity bill usually cost?

Allright.  Thanks for the participation in this thread.  I'm satisfied with the chain and realized that my March bill of 2100 baht is on the low-end.  We don't live miserly, but, frugally.  We splurge on good food that we cook and travel nicely, but, don't care much for running a/c all day just-for-the-hell-of-it.  My wife is talking to the authorities and 6800 for 3 months, even if it's not fair, I will pay.  My key arguments were "I was missing almost half of the month for two-out-of-three of those months, that we did not use even ONE a/c for whole day, and our cooking is all gas" .  I am expecting some level of rational resolution, but, if not, I'd be out of about 2500 baht total which is not anything to sweat about... C'est la Vie'.  Come to think of it, the hospitals in US gouge us to no end and the populous is impotent to do anything about it!  ????

Edited April 11, 2022 by JuanMatus