Purchased land. Whats the go with temporary water and electric connections?

[ubonr1971]

We purchased land and intend to build a house this year or next. 

 

The PWA water authority said that they can send a team out to do a quotation on putting in a meter as a temporary connection. They said if we wanted a permanent one we would have to visit the planning office. If we intend to have gutters running around the house and carport collecting the water to the tanks do we need a permanent PWA supply? Surely a temporary one is sufficient??

 

A month or so ago I remember asking the PEA electric and same for them. They said we can ask the neighbours to run wires on top of their poles and we would have to put up a few more concrete poles. They can give us temporary connection that way. They said that in the next 2 yrs there might be big poles being run down past our land to a new big government development. Maybe we can use that in a few yrs to get a permanent connection. 

 

If you have any experience with this can you please leave a comment. Should we be sorting both these issues out before we start building the house? And before we put up the concrete boundary walls?

 

thanks

[blackcab]

Moved to the Real Estate forum.

[Stevemercer]

We had to pay to get a line in from the closest PEA pole to our construction site and then pay PEA for a temporary connection/meter. I think the connection/meter cost 4,800 Baht. The builders organised the line in and, during the house construction, put in a permanent 3 phase line to our house (about 250 m from the closest PEA pole). The cost will mainly depend upon the number of poles needed to get to your house from the PEA pole and may be 30,000 - 50,000 Baht per 100 metres (assuming 3 small concrete poles per 100 m).

 

When the house is completed, don't forget to get PEA to change the meter/tariff to domestic. The contruction tariff is twice the domestic tariff and, apparently, we 'forgot' to change the tariff. We paid the construction tariff while living in the house for over 7 years.

 

I recommend getting town water put on. Normally PEA will put the line and meter to the edge of your property. I forget the cost. They will give you a quote to run the line across your property to a specified end point, but the cost will be outrageous. It is much cheaper to get a private contractor/local to build that line or, alternatively, do it your self.

[Muhendis]

2 hours ago, Stevemercer said:

When the house is completed, don't forget to get PEA to change the meter/tariff to domestic. The contruction tariff is twice the domestic tariff and, apparently, we 'forgot' to change the tariff. We paid the construction tariff while living in the house for over 7 years.

Yeah!

Same here. Our nearest electric post was 1Km away and our builder threaded the 25mm² cable amongst the roadside trees.

Until PEA installed the meter local to our house we had only construction supply tariff.

That's where my solar installation quickly paid for itself.

Same with water but with a variation that I supplied the pipe and the local government workers came along and did the installation and connection free. That was two weeks ago. 

We used a surface water well and a horrible bore hole. We still use the well since it's good for nine months of the year but the bore hole is now decommissioned.

 

[khunPer]

17 hours ago, ubonr1971 said:

If you have any experience with this can you please leave a comment. Should we be sorting both these issues out before we start building the house?

You can only have temporary electricity supply until your house is 80 percent finished, at which time you can obtain a House Book that is needed for permanent electricity supply. Temporary supply is often  limited to one phase 16A and at a higher rate than permanent electricity supply.

 

Any post and wires needed for the supply, you'll have to pay. However, when the posts are there, others can also use them.

 

If you can make an agreement with a wire from a neighbor and a sub-meter, you might be able to pay only the lower permanent supply rate per unit; and sometimes also a small gift to the kind neighbor.

 

Unfortunately I don't have public water supply, so I have no experience with that...????

[ubonr1971]

On 3/27/2023 at 4:45 AM, Stevemercer said:

We had to pay to get a line in from the closest PEA pole to our construction site and then pay PEA for a temporary connection/meter. I think the connection/meter cost 4,800 Baht. The builders organised the line in and, during the house construction, put in a permanent 3 phase line to our house (about 250 m from the closest PEA pole). The cost will mainly depend upon the number of poles needed to get to your house from the PEA pole and may be 30,000 - 50,000 Baht per 100 metres (assuming 3 small concrete poles per 100 m).

 

When the house is completed, don't forget to get PEA to change the meter/tariff to domestic. The contruction tariff is twice the domestic tariff and, apparently, we 'forgot' to change the tariff. We paid the construction tariff while living in the house for over 7 years.

 

I recommend getting town water put on. Normally PEA will put the line and meter to the edge of your property. I forget the cost. They will give you a quote to run the line across your property to a specified end point, but the cost will be outrageous. It is much cheaper to get a private contractor/local to build that line or, alternatively, do it your self.

I wanted to ask your advice actually. we dont know exactly when we will start building the new house. If we ask them to set up the new temporary supply in the next few months and then dont actually use it... does it mean a zero bill each month if we are not using it?

 

Also we are currently waiting on PWA water officer to give quotation for temporary meter installation. I want this done now before we put concrete fences around the entire boundary. I think the pipes will have to go underground and best to lay this before we do the concrete fences. Do you agree that we cant do the fences prior to sorting the water pipes? Do I have the correct order of events here:

1. PWA install water meter on the edge of our land near the road

2. Pay a private contractor to connect pipes to the meter and run these inside the boundary close enough to the site where the proposed house is

3. Install concrete fences and gates

4. Pay private contractor digger machine and add soil inside our land area where its needed after concrete fences are installed (there will be huge holes everywhere inside the fence line)

5. House is ready to start building. Ask PEA electric to install temporary poles/ lines

 

Is this the correct order? thanks

[khunPer]

7 minutes ago, ubonr1971 said:

I wanted to ask your advice actually. we dont know exactly when we will start building the new house. If we ask them to set up the new temporary supply in the next few months and then dont actually use it... does it mean a zero bill each month if we are not using it?

 

Also we are currently waiting on PWA water officer to give quotation for temporary meter installation. I want this done now before we put concrete fences around the entire boundary. I think the pipes will have to go underground and best to lay this before we do the concrete fences. Do you agree?

I have a small fixed fee for the meter – just under 25 baht plus v.a.t. – I presume it's the same on a temporary supply; it might be a different fee. But it's long time since I had temporary supply when building, and I don't remember details, and I don't know if I kept any bill somewhere.

 

When I made concrete decks I installed a water pipesunderneath, in case I one day would have the option for public water supply. The piped ended visible with a cover on top. It can also end in a small well-shaft or like, so it ready for connection to the public line. I actually used my pipe later, as I installed water tanks, after I gave up using the well; I'm living too close to the beach, so the well water was not enough and of good enough quality.

[Stevemercer]

Yes, it would be better to get the construction meter installed closer to the time of the house build (within several weeks). If you have a builder they will organise all this. The main cost is the upfront 4,800 Baht deposit (or whatever the cost is now). Monthly bills will be minimal. If there is no activity, the bill will be close to zero.

 

You should proceed to get the water line/meter installed to the edge of your property. Do not pay PWEA to install water piping within your property as the price for this will be exhorbitant. The builders will need to run a temporary line/hose for use during construction. They can do this if it is no more than 50 metres to the site. If the distance is further the builders will want to put in a 'permanent' line to a tap where they will mix the concrete etc. You can always block this off if it ends up being in an inconvienient location.

 

It is best to put in the permanent piping once the concrete wall (that it will run along) is completed alongside the house. Normally the 'in' line will be buried underground about 6 inches running along your side of the fence to your tank/pump set up. The 'out' line (from the tank/pump set up) to connection points in your house and outside taps will normally run along the concrete wall.

 

Normally the builder will do the concrete wall, at least near the house. It is best to lock it into the contract (length, height and location of the fence). Once the fence starts going up, any neighbours with concerns about the property boundary will stick their noses in. It is probably good practice to get the local Lands Department in to verify/confirm the property boundaries to avoid future disputes. You normally have to book them 3 or 4 weeks in advance. It is worth treating them to lunch and tea money because they may favour you in any disputes.

 

At one point (not too far from the tank and close to the main bedroom showers etc (or anticipated heaviest water use) a line will run to the house. This will then run buried along the length of the house to all the connection points.

 

When we built our house, we had the builder leave a 1 meter space between the house wall and the perimeter concrete pathway (which is usually built right against the house. This means we can plant bushes and gardens right against the house and the water pipeline/house connections are not buried under concrete and are easy to access.

 

At the end of the day, because Thailand runs such a low pressure system, and the pipes are PVC, everything is easy to fix, reroute or bypass as necessary. You will be able to do most of this work yourself with basic tools.

[Muhendis]

My water meter cost  1,935 Baht and the nice government workers connected to my house pipe for me.

My wife tells me to keep the receipt for the meter because we can claim it back when the permanent supply is done at some future date.