300% Mark Up On Electricty

[deejah]

staying in a room in patters by the month

one would think if you pay for your electricty and water

then you pay at cost

but no

many places here charge between 6 and 8 baht for elect.

mine wants 10!!!!!

maybe 30-40 per unit for water!

what does the utility company charge for electricity and water?

about 3 bath a unit for electricty and 10 or 20 for water?

why such a high mark up?

i talked with the management about this already with no luck

any ideas, besides moving?

[saorsa]

staying in a room in patters by the month

one would think if you pay for your electricty and water

then you pay at cost

but no

many places here charge between 6 and 8 baht for elect.

mine wants 10!!!!!

maybe 30-40 per unit for water!

what does the utility company charge for electricity and water?

about 3 bath a unit for electricty and 10 or 20 for water?

why such a high mark up?

i talked with the management about this already with no luck

any ideas, besides moving?

Which condo building is that? I have yet to receive my first bill since I moved to pattaya, so dont know how much i will have to pay. Never thought to ask.

[ZZZ]

This is normal practice in many condo's. Should be regulated by the owners association.

The difference between 3 and 10 Baht could be several thousand Baht in a month if you are using aircon. The difference in water will be next to nothing, 20 or 40Baht for 1000 liters will not make a big difference over a month.

Normal electricity is just over 3Baht per kWh.

Water should be around 30Baht per cubic meter.

[Heng]

It's business not personal.

[tijnebijn]

Just move out of that creepy place .

All of Pataya I mean .

[tomuk76]

It's business not personal.

Of course, its how the landlords make more income. I reckon with the 10 baht per unit they have seen you coming!

If your aircons units are old i wouldnt put them on if i was you otherwise you will be in for one big bill at the end of the month!

Get out of there!

[lardy]

And maybe they have to come each month read the meter then go pay the bill (time money), however this price is way to much.

[NotNew2You]

why such a high mark up?

i talked with the management about this already with no luck

any ideas, besides moving?

It's called the free market...you know, capitalism, market prices, supply & demand, all that stuff from Econ. 101. It's the same for apartment/house rentals sometimes, though there are many places that just charge directly what the elec. company charges. Most of the places that have these utility mark-ups have them because most tourists and many long-stay visitors think they are actually paying the direct rate and never bother to read their leases carefully and don't realize the mark-up and that they are paying is 2-3x what direct billing would be. Nice little earner for many landlords.

You can sometimes negotiate a lower rate prior to signing a lease.

[MarkBKK]

staying in a room in patters by the month

one would think if you pay for your electricty and water

then you pay at cost

but no

many places here charge between 6 and 8 baht for elect.

mine wants 10!!!!!

maybe 30-40 per unit for water!

what does the utility company charge for electricity and water?

about 3 bath a unit for electricty and 10 or 20 for water?

why such a high mark up?

i talked with the management about this already with no luck

any ideas, besides moving?

Welcome to Thailand. Standard practice, unless renting from an owner. Of course, YMMV.

[Heng]

Nice little earner for many landlords.

Myself I have always let the electric company just charge my tenants directly, but then I don't own any apartment complexes either. I can understand their point of view as well, shelling out X to XX million up front and then another 12,000 Baht per meter x however many units. And as mentioned the market does indeed 'accept it' for the most part, and the number of renters in this world is going has always been increasing faster than the number of owners, so it's somewhat of a solid business strategy.

[DP25]

There is no option. You either pay 10 baht per unit, or you move somewhere else. That's far more than I'd be willing to pay though, as I like to keep the air con on all the time.

[Naam]

staying in a room in patters by the month

one would think if you pay for your electricty and water

then you pay at cost

but no

many places here charge between 6 and 8 baht for elect.

mine wants 10!!!!!

maybe 30-40 per unit for water!

what does the utility company charge for electricity and water?

about 3 bath a unit for electricty and 10 or 20 for water?

why such a high mark up?

i talked with the management about this already with no luck

any ideas, besides moving?

notwithstanding the fact that 10 Baht per kWh is indeed outrageous your ability of calculating percentages is "slightly impaired"

[joskydive]

staying in a room in patters by the month

one would think if you pay for your electricty and water

then you pay at cost

but no

many places here charge between 6 and 8 baht for elect.

mine wants 10!!!!!

maybe 30-40 per unit for water!

what does the utility company charge for electricity and water?

about 3 bath a unit for electricty and 10 or 20 for water?

why such a high mark up?

i talked with the management about this already with no luck

any ideas, besides moving?

Just checked mine now - including tax, I pay 13.57baht per unit of water and 3.67baht per unit of Electric, but, of course, I live in a house with no Landlord/Lady and pay direct.

[astral]

It sounds as though you need to challenge these rip off rises in costs.

No wonder inflation is galloping away......

[Rimmer]

It's not just 3 baht is it because of the fuel surcharges and taxes.

According to the engineers that installed my transformer and HT power lines The standard rate for selling electric out of my system would be 8 baht a unit should I ever wish to help somebody out on say a nearby construction site or a house with no power.

[Briggsy]

Didn't you ask before you signed the contract? Is this the first time you have rented in the Land of Sin? Let it be a 300% lesson to you.

[ZZZ]

In condominiums the rates charged for utilities are decided by the owners association. Condominiums have many costs to cover like gardener, security, pool maintenance, garbage removal, cleaning....

Normally the only income the condominium have is the maintenance fee payed by the owners. This fee is decided by the owners association.

In many condominiums many units are not used for several months a year as the owners are not permanent residents there. In these cases the condominium association may have decided to charge a higher fee for utilities. The effect of this will be that people who live there 12 months a year will pay more into the maintenance of the condominium than people who only live there 6 months a year, witch is fair as the permanent residents use the facilities more.

All this will not really help you if you are renting a place, then it's all demand and supply and you have to decide if the total cost of the place is worth it, if not find another place.

Some landlords charge a flat rent, all included. Some landlords will charge you rent, maintenance fee, cable tv fee, fixed line phone fee and utilities at inflated rates.

Up to you to decide if you get value for money

[Kerryd]

I pay a mark-up on my electricity as well, but no where near 10 bhat/unit. I think mine is 4.5-5 per unit.

I'm pretty sure that the land-lady charges everyone the same in our building. The "profit" though, is used to offset their own electrical costs for their apartments and the laundry downstairs. In essence, they are getting their juice for free (and are probably the largest consumers of it) and the rest of us are paying for it.

But still, I've found that keeping the aircon down (or off) goes a long way to reducing the monthly bill.