Thai Expert Explains High Electricity Bills in Thailand

[sidneybear]

2 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Of course they have an explanation that doesn't hold...Ukraine/ Russian war, did rise the the fuel prices indeed, but in the western news these prices are almost back to normal again.

Fuel is usually bought on futures contract, meaning that falls in price may take a while to filter through the system. Of course, energy companies apply price increases faster than they apply reductions, a practice that shouldn't be allowed. 

[Kalasin Jo]

Our April bill to 21/4 is almost double that of March. Our consumption is too. The charges seem to be on an incremental banded rate scale depending on amount consumed if I interpret the bill correctly.

 

It's worth getting the PEA app. In this you can review bills, consumption and cost graghics over the previous 6 months, including the latest. You can do some other things too

[sambum]

"Praiphon also said even though excess reserve power is not sold into the system, electricity consumers still have to bear the burden of paying for it to private power companies."

 

So am I reading this right? Consumers have to pay private power companies for excess reserve power even though they are not using it? 

[sambum]

4 hours ago, rwill said:

If those private power companies can't sell thier power they should shut down instead.

The way I read the article is that these private  companies are charging the consumer to store the product, even though it is not being used!!! 

[vivananahuahin]

Not in favor for the take care PM with coming elections, again  political mistakes and who has the most shares in this, is not a minister from this government?

[Dart12]

ahh, the designed world lockdown true purpose at play worldwide.  No nod to the said factors.  They may be symptoms but not the cause

[Dellboy218]

4 hours ago, tandor said:

Plenty of LNG gas just down the road in Australias' North West Shelf.

(Maybe Thailand buys from there, i have no idea)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_Shelf

A lot of that is contracted to China, I spent my last 5 working years running from Karratha to China.  I believe Thailand imports some from Malaysia and the Mid East

[Kwaibill]

2 hours ago, Mickeymaus said:

You pay this to the landlord. It has nothing to do with the price he really pays. There are laws that regulate how much more he can charge. Thailand has many good laws but often no (good) law enforcement... 

Our bill for a three bed house with full electric kitchen was under 2,000 baht. I think you need to investigate.

[Freddy42OZ]

5 hours ago, EdrigoSalvadore said:

I now pay 9 THB/unit, And my 40 sqm room had bill if 3537 THB last month. It used to be about 2000. Painful.

 

I never put my air-conditioning below 25,

 

Why are you paying so much?   
In Bangkok I'm paying about 5.08 baht a unit (approx) 

My bill last month (50 sqm, 2 ACs) was 1541.77, I used 303 KWh of power 

https://www.mea.or.th/en/aboutelectric/116/280/form/12

[Peabody]

3 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

It's like turning on your light switch at home, viola instant power.

Wow! Lights AND music!  /j

[TimeMachine]

A tip for those who have a house with rooftop space to put solar panels. No need to pay hundreds of thousands of baht to company for setup. 

 

You can get 360v worth of solar panels and easily modify your SMPS  appliances such as TV, inverter type microwaves, air cons, to run directly off the 360v DC . No need for an expensive inverter. If you choose panels that can deliver  8 amps that will give you around 2kw. There is a cheap 220v inverter available that runs off the 360vdc if you don't want to bother modifying appliances or if you have non inverter smps p/s equipment. 

 

Medium electronics knowledge is required but as usual, YouTube shows the way.

 

Night time is the problem still and there is no way around that but to buy a battery system. Sorry. 

 

 

[MJCM]

5 hours ago, EdrigoSalvadore said:

I now  pay 9 THB/unit,

That is your landlord taking a profit of around 4-5 THB per unit, you are not paying official rates. 

[Freddy42OZ]

2 hours ago, koolkarl said:

Climate emergency is the main reason electric bills are soaring and it will get a lot worse as long as the world keeps burning fossil fuels.  Politicians love to brainwash it's citizens.

 

Very few people willing to accept this.  

[Freddy42OZ]

4 hours ago, Phil1964 said:

Of course in a sunny country it makes no sense to have a massive state investment in solar power and battery storage?

I mean why use an abundant, free natural resource, ie: sunshine to power all the A/C units in the country. And yeah I know, when its dark there's no power generation, so therefore you either generate electricity from natural gas as per the present method, or you instal battery storage solutions.

Of course though these Thai generals don't want imports flooding their domestic market, so they lump on massive import duties which simply makes the hardware required to generate electricity way expensive!

 

Inward looking military inbreds!

 

Did you bother to research Thailand's solar energy plans or anything?   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Thailand

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/10/31/thailand-introduces-fit-scheme-for-solar-storage/

 

[mfd101]

5 hours ago, EdrigoSalvadore said:

I now pay 9 THB/unit, And my 40 sqm room had bill if 3537 THB last month. It used to be about 2000. Painful.

 

I never put my air-conditioning below 25,

Well, someone's making a nice profit out of you.

 

I paid 2976฿ last month to run a 630sqm 2-storied house with 2 occupants here in south Surin with 6 ac's (though only 3 normally used) & set at 22C-25C depending on need during the 2 or 3 hottest months. The a/c in my library u/s runs most of every day from about 0900 to 2200, and in the main bedroom u/s from around 2200 to 0600.

[foreverlomsak]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

He said the increase actually started at the end of 2022, but people did not acknowledge it until March to April when the weather became significantly hotter, leading to an increase in electricity consumption and thereby a surge in power bills.

The total cost per unit on my bills were

Dec 4.64

Jan 5.13

Feb 4.33 (stimulus effect)

Mar 5.14

Apr 5.29

Yes, the unit cost has risen, but so did the usage and next month I reckon the units used will be even higher.

[Adumbration]

It would be more useful if Mr Koomsub would explain why the Government is not raising the cash rate to curb inflation.

[sezze]

4 hours ago, Zack61 said:

And reduces evaporation I would imagine thus preserving water - another valuable asset.

 

Reduces evaporation ? no it does not , solar panels are hotter then water surface , creating hotter surface water temp , creating more evaporation .There are advantages putting solar panels on water , like the colder cell temp makes higher power production . However there are also many downsides , like oxygen production is way higher from algae living on water surface then any tree on the planet . 

 

[Karma80]

Prices are going up because someone sees the opportunity to make money. And most people will nod and say - oh yeah, the war, inflation and stuff. A reality check - corporate profits are the leading cause of inflation globally, including the profitability of quasi-state operations.

[chilli42]

The information here is false.  The global price of price of LNG in Asia has dropped from $37 per million BTU in Dec 2020 (2 months before the invasion of Ukraine) to $13 per million BTU today.  Yes there was a temporary increase that peaked in August 2022 but the price has dropped precipitously since then.  How can a journalist publish something like this without fact checking it?  Beyond that, what does this tell you about the price of electricity in Thailand.

[Chongalulu]

33 minutes ago, Karma80 said:

Prices are going up because someone sees the opportunity to make money. And most people will nod and say - oh yeah, the war, inflation and stuff. A reality check - corporate profits are the leading cause of inflation globally, including the profitability of quasi-state operations.

What were you saying during the pandemic when at one stage the oil price went negative and the energy companies lost billions? The same with airlines.You appear not to understand the economics of a volatile commodity industry where profitable times balance out the troughs of losses. Well yes it very much is the effects of the war which is behind the significant inflation "and stuff". You also have to explain how the preceding decade(s) of low inflation and interest rates fit into your theory….? ???? 

[Chongalulu]

39 minutes ago, chilli42 said:

Beyond that, what does this tell you about the price of electricity in Thailand.

It tells me that it is very significantly lower than in my U.K. and the rest of Europe.

[Songlaw]

Well, that certainly cleared things up, I guess. As much as anything ever has. The price has jumped, the where-to’s and why-for’s are, shall we say, elusive, and therefore onward and upward with a stiff upper lip - how are my translation skills holding up?

[BusyB]

4 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

Isn't it the sanctions against Russia that is causing all these prices to rise?

 

So it isn't the little red spot, but half the world's countries imposing economic sanctions of one of the biggest countries in the world.

 

What you have shared is not true.

To get some perspective on a track some of these erudite comments are following:

 

Russia may be big by land but its economy is smaller than Italy's and is mainly reliant on raw materials exports.

The rouble is not exchangeable on international markets because it would collapse otherwise. The 'official' Russian rate set by Putin's hangers on is laughable and noone's taking.

 

Ukraine is one of, possibly the world's largest exporter of grain. it is still nowhere near back to pre-war levels of exports. Africa is highly dependent on Ukrainian grain. Right now there are serious problems and bans even transitting it through the EU to other countries.

It is also one of the largest exporters of potash required for fertilizer.

 

I can understand why so many people (like someone further up the thread) say 'I shut my ears when I hear the word expert'. Yeah, cos real information as opposed to 'alternative facts' disturbs some precious notions about how much people really know and how they see the world, right? Not a nice feeling right?

 

Maybe we should stop sending kids to school and exposing them to all those expert teechers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by BusyB

[Zapitapi]

5 hours ago, koolkarl said:

Climate emergency is the main reason electric bills are soaring and it will get a lot worse as long as the world keeps burning fossil fuels.  Politicians love to brainwash it's citizens.

i think the brainwashed one is u:) climate is changing but not because of us or cow farts

[chilli42]

1 hour ago, nchuckle said:

It tells me that it is very significantly lower than in my U.K. and the rest of Europe.

Well I was thinking more along the lines that electricity prices are managed and don’t reflect global commodity pricing.  That door swings both ways … electric prices were reduced during Covid but now over priced relative to LNG prices

[Chongalulu]

3 hours ago, Peabody said:

6 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

It's like turning on your light switch at home, viola instant power.

Wow! Lights AND music!  /j

Are you calling him a lyre…?

[berrec]

1 hour ago, chilli42 said:

The information here is false.  The global price of price of LNG in Asia has dropped from $37 per million BTU in Dec 2020 (2 months before the invasion of Ukraine) to $13 per million BTU today.  Yes there was a temporary increase that peaked in August 2022 but the price has dropped precipitously since then.  How can a journalist publish something like this without fact checking it?  Beyond that, what does this tell you about the price of electricity in Thailand.

That's what you get with an eXperts' opinion and a lazy journalist!

 

You know X is always an unknown quantity.... 555555 

[happydreamer]

4 hours ago, sidneybear said:

Fuel is usually bought on futures contract, meaning that falls in price may take a while to filter through the system. Of course, energy companies apply price increases faster than they apply reductions, a practice that shouldn't be allowed. 

Exactly.  Was just getting ready to respond with this same explanation.  The utility will always trail the actual market prices.  We saw breaks in price action in march of 22 but the actual fuel prices didn't come down till June.

[Chongalulu]

4 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

9 hours ago, ezzra said:

and shortages in the supply of many commodities that govern our everyday lives is the worst.

What about all the innocent people dying?  Isn't that bad?

It is,but not in a way that has many practical negatives for the rest of us. There are quite a few not innocent people dying too…