Unit Of Water

[Ludacris]

For 2 years at my old condo I was paying 17B per unit of water and never paid for more than 2 units per month. Some months I wouldn't even use a full unit and wouldn't pay anything.

At my new condo, I pay 18B per unit of water and for the past 3 months have been paying for about 12 units per month (over 200B). There's no way I'm using 12 times more water, so I figured there's got to be a leak somewhere and finally had a technician inspect the meter and the pipes today but he didn't find anything wrong. The meter was not turning with all the taps off so there's no leak anywhere, and I was able to verify the meter reading on the bill. He was saying that some rooms with 3-4 people pay up to 800B per month for water, but I find it hard to believe that Thai's would pay that much just for water.

So what's the deal? I thought a unit of water was the same everywhere just like a unit of electricity and just the price per unit varied from place to place. If they tell you a price per unit for water but their unit is 12 times smaller than normal you're going to be paying a lot more than you expect. The condo has almost all Thai's so it's not something special just for foreigners, and the condo isn't adding an extra surcharge on the bill - it's just the number of units at 18B per unit.

The money isn't a big deal and I don't really care (it even took me a few months to look into it), I'm just wondering what's going on. I haven't been able to lose my curiousity while living in Thailand yet...

[JetsetBkk]

I would guess there was something wrong with your meter in the old place - what you're paying now sounds about right.

Just be thankful you don't experience the hassle I just had - a bill for over 16,075 baht!! The d1ckhead meter reader guy stuck a "1" in front of the meter reading so the reading was 1,000 cubic meters too big! That's 1 million litres!

Of course, the water company weren't interested in my logical explanation that he simply misread the meter. Oh no! "Maybe your pipe is broken?" Yeah right! One million litres of water that I didn't notice p1ssing out somewhere. They also weren't interested in getting the guy to read it again. They wanted the owner to read it and sign a form saying that it was the true reading. So I took a picture of the meter reading and showed it to them. Problem solved: 12,000 litres, 133 baht.

[ajarnmark]

For OP, just check if any of the point applicable to you:

1. Maybe you have a TGF in your new condo. I noticed that some Thai girls are fond of playing with water while bath.

2. Maybe you just become clean conscious (or any other suitable word for this) and you started taking shower everyday.

I just wonder how come you use only 1-2 units of water every month. If you live in your condo, take shower everyday and use some water to clean the dishes and do some occasional cooking, it would not be less than 5 units.

Please tell me the trick for keeping water upto 1-2 units per month as my usage is never less than 8 units per month and NO I do not play with water, just use it normally.

[elkangorito]

I, like the OP, don't use any more than 2 units of water per month (1 unit = 1 cubic metre or 1 000 litres). I pay 15 Baht per unit.

I just got my monthly bill today - 2 units of water used = 30 Baht.

To the OP;

The only way you're going to find out what is happening, is if you read your water meter daily & record the readings.

[gzu88bv]

At my new condo, I pay 18B per unit of water and for the past 3 months have been paying for about 12 units per month (over 200B). There's no way I'm using 12 times more water, so I figured there's got to be a leak somewhere and finally had a technician inspect the meter and the pipes today but he didn't find anything wrong. The meter was not turning with all the taps off so there's no leak anywhere, and I was able to verify the meter reading on the bill. He was saying that some rooms with 3-4 people pay up to 800B per month for water, but I find it hard to believe that Thai's would pay that much just for water.

The money isn't a big deal and I don't really care (it even took me a few months to look into it), I'm just wondering what's going on. I haven't been able to lose my curiousity while living in Thailand yet...

One cannot argue about the quantity of water used and its price. Maybe your pipes are being tapped and I can tell you that you would not be the first one......

[astral]

The unit is the Cubic Metre (1000L)

My family of 4 costs about 200baht a month, when the supply is working.

[nullx8]

200b is normal for 2 peoples working at weekdays .. more less normal cooking ...

here is a invoice from my old place, townhouse, 2 peoples, both working .. no or rare cooking at home

where this is direct invoice .. not via landlord proxy adding some extra tip's as usual in condos or appartments ;-)

Edited October 19, 2007 by altf4

[lopburi3]

I don't know where you are but here in Bangkok the direct price is about 11.2 baht per unit (condo would be higher) and our normal usage for a household of 10 is between 60-75 units and a cost of about 800 baht per month. That includes outside plant watering that you would not have in a condo.

Both your 2 units and 12 units sound very suspect.

[JetsetBkk]

I don't know where you are but here in Bangkok the direct price is about 11.2 baht per unit (condo would be higher) and our normal usage for a household of 10 is between 60-75 units and a cost of about 800 baht per month. That includes outside plant watering that you would not have in a condo.

Both your 2 units and 12 units sound very suspect.

My monthly bills from my bkk condo all show between 6 and 11 units at 16 baht/unit.

[Ludacris]

It's interesting to see the replies are all over the board - from 1 or 2 units and 30B per month to close to a hundred units.

If 1 unit is supposed to be 1000L I guess one way to find out is to actually measure the volume of water and compare it to the meter, but I'm not motivated enough to do that. The meter does have dials for fractions of a unit, but it would still be a pain in the ass and I'd rather just pay the couple hundred baht or so.

It would be interesting to hear more replies about how much people pay per month for water, including the number of units, price per unit, and number of people.