In a surprising turn of events, the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) in Koh Samui had to extend an apology to a small hotel proprietor on the island in the southern province of Surat Thani. It seems the PEA’s miscalculated her electricity consumption, leading to them issuing a bill of over 11 million baht last month.

 

The PEA’s Communication Affairs Division’s director-general, Thanaphan Tiasuwan, shed light on the matter. He noted that the PEA had looked into the error and discussed it with the shocked hotel owner, Apassanant Pattharapisithorn. This case had drawn attention when it started trending on several social media platforms.

 

Apassanant put up a photo, on a dedicated Thai consumer protection website, showing the electricity bill for July issued for her eight-room hotel. The photograph illustrates her shock at finding that her hotel had allegedly consumed 5,099,939.87 units of electricity, leading to an astronomical bill of 11,780,004.62 baht.

 

by Mitch Connor

TOP: The PEA apologized for a mistaken 11 million baht electricity bill.

(Apassanant Pattharapisithorn Facebook). Picture courtesy of Apassanant Pattharapisithorn Facebook

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/samui/thai-power-company-apologises-for-11-8-million-baht-bill-error

 

-- © Copyright Thaiger 2023-08-01

 

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Another storm in a social media tea cup.

 

A simple mistake which could have been sorted in a few minutes at the PEA office.

 

Why was the office closed? Probably due to the 6 day national holiday. That is why she was asked to wiat for a call back until after the holiday ends tomorrow.

 

She could not have paid the bill anyway due to the holiday.

 

Attention grabber, and stupid with it.

Time to go solar.

My maths indicate 2.3 baht per kilowatt; pretty good price for electricity. I'm paying at least twice that.

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

Another storm in a social media tea cup.

If there isn't a storm it's always good to brew one.

18 hours ago, webfact said:

It seems the PEA’s miscalculated her electricity consumption

Wouldn't be the first time.....wife's aunty was issued an enormous bill 2 years ago.

Turned out meter was installed across the road on a pole ( fairly standard ) but up approx 5 metres off the ground.

Meter reader had been taking a guess for years.

Anyhow, as someone already mentioned, she went and saw the PEA, sorted.

 

I imagine the "averaging practice" is still in place, the meter certainly hasn't shifted.

 

About 45 years ago I had a job dealing with UK telecom bills. If a bill seemed out of the ordinary it was flagged before we sent it out. It seems that PEA is still to catch up with a system to avoid erroneous bills.

On 8/1/2023 at 2:42 PM, billd766 said:

Another storm in a social media tea cup.

 

A simple mistake which could have been sorted in a few minutes at the PEA office.

 

Why was the office closed? Probably due to the 6 day national holiday. That is why she was asked to wiat for a call back until after the holiday ends tomorrow.

 

She could not have paid the bill anyway due to the holiday.

 

Attention grabber, and stupid with it.

Bills can be paid online anytime

4 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Bills can be paid online anytime

That is correct if you have the app, but why would you pay a bill that you are disputing without first talking to the PEA about the error.

 

If my bill, which is normally between 4 and 6,xxx baht shot up to over 11,xxx,xxx baht, I would be disputing it at the PEA office as soon as they were open.