Paying The Powerbill

[anthoma]

We live in a small village in Ubon. Here we have a man that every month between the 20. and 25. go from door to door collecting money for the powerbill. If we are not home he come back. This month he probably been at our house several times because last night when we came home there was a note hanging at our gate saying that we had to go to main office to pay our bill within 3 days and if not the power would be closed and they would take down the meter. So because we not stay home when he come we have to drive a round trip of 100 km to the main office to pay the bill. And we still not got the bill, only this note.

Why cannot this stupid guy just put the powerbill in our mailbox and we will go to his home and pay. Does he expect us to stay home every hour between the 20. and 25. waiting for him to come? Why cant they just give us a bill that we can go to the post office to pay. What about if we somethime goes for a trip for one week? When we come home the power is closed and the meter i gone?

Do you have the same system in your village ore how do you get your powerbill?

[Dave the Dude]

We live in a small village in Ubon. Here we have a man that every month between the 20. and 25. go from door to door collecting money for the powerbill. If we are not home he come back. This month he probably been at our house several times because last night when we came home there was a note hanging at our gate saying that we had to go to main office to pay our bill within 3 days and if not the power would be closed and they would take down the meter. So because we not stay home when he come we have to drive a round trip of 100 km to the main office to pay the bill. And we still not got the bill, only this note.

Why cannot this stupid guy just put the powerbill in our mailbox and we will go to his home and pay. Does he expect us to stay home every hour between the 20. and 25. waiting for him to come? Why cant they just give us a bill that we can go to the post office to pay. What about if we somethime goes for a trip for one week? When we come home the power is closed and the meter i gone?

Do you have the same system in your village ore how do you get your powerbill?

Hi anthma

We have a guy call monthly,read the meter, gives us a 'ticker tape' bill and we go into town(Surin) to pay it at the electricity office. My wife frequently takes others bills with her for a small fee.

We rely on no-one and have no problems.

Dave

[danfred]

same here. they read the meter and leave us the bill each month. we pay it with our other bills when visiting town. we always get a receipt showing proof of payment. same procedure for the water bill.

edit: if you're worried about leaving for a week... overpay your bill... the utility will apply your negative balance to your next bill. this has happened to us by accident before.

Edited January 25, 2009 by danfred

[phibunmike]

We live outside the village. Two schoolgirls come round on a motorbike with the bill, and we pay cash. If we are not home, I suppose they come again - of course we only see them when we are home. If we completely miss them they leave the bill at my mother-in-law's house in the village, she pays them, and we pay her back later. Everyone knows everyone so there is never a problem.

Next time you see your meter-man, ask him to leave the bill if you are not there, and ask where he lives so you can drop the money at his house. If you are away for longer, can you leave the estimated amount with him or someone else?

Cheers,

Mike

[prakhonchai nick]

Next time you are in the electric office set up a direct debit.

[loong]

They will cut your supply after only 1 month??

That surprises me, maybe too many people are late with their payments nowadays.

Same as you, we have a man come and present the bill and collect the cash. He usually comes at 6AM though, so most people are at home.

Is it possible to pay your bill at a nearer 7-11 store? Telephone the company and find out, also ask if they would really cut you off so quickly. Point out that you have not actually received the bill, just a note.

[UbonTaz]

Here in Ubon city the meter reader comes around monthly, if we aren't home or don't respond to his horn honk he leaves the bill in a little container made for it. We can pay him, go to the main office or pay at Seven11 and a few other places.

It might be some policy that they won't leave it if you are not home because bills disappear. I have heard that there isn't much grace if not paid on time but it is only hearsay. Why not talk to the electric company when you are in town to get the policy from the horses mouth.

[abdulrahman]

Just for fun:T.i.T.

At our home,in Udon,since many months we don't have to pay the Water bill.

The electricity,much higher of course,yes.

In our cottage,some Km outside the city,we don't have to pay the electricity bill.

But the water,very expensive,from the village well,yes.

Well,it's a (small)relief.

[kamalabob2]

As PrakhonChai Nick suggested you can go to the PEA office and sign up for the direct debit from selected banks to pay your PEA Electric bill. Here is a link with the Thai Language form from the www.pea.co.th web site, which has quite a bit of information in English, just not this particular form. If you are late with paying your electric bill they do charge a service fee.

http://www.pea.co.th/th/eng/downloadable/form/formbank.pdf

[anthoma]

We went to the main office to pay our bill today and to complain about the way they are doing things. They'r answer was that this is the way we do. They would not drop the bill in the mailbox because they was afraid people would wait long time before they paid. Thats why they just put the note up with 3 days limit for paying the bill, if not they close the power. My wife asked for the bill today but they didnt have it. So we just had to pay the amount that the lokal powerguy wrote on the bill.

We asked for direct debit in the bank. We could do that, but we had to have a bankaccount in a bank in the same city as the main office was. We say that we had a bankaccount in Bankok Bank in another village but that could not be used. So if we liked to have direct debit we had to change bank.

[loong]

They would not drop the bill in the mailbox because they was afraid people would wait long time before they paid. Thats why they just put the note up with 3 days limit for paying the bill, if not they close the power. My wife asked for the bill today but they didnt have it. So we just had to pay the amount that the lokal powerguy wrote on the bill.

So they think that customers are more likely to pay if they don't get the bill??????? TIT

[bergen]

You just have to follow the flow.............TiT

even that means going up stream most of the time

[dutch]

We live in a small village in Ubon. Here we have a man that every month between the 20. and 25. go from door to door collecting money for the powerbill. If we are not home he come back. This month he probably been at our house several times because last night when we came home there was a note hanging at our gate saying that we had to go to main office to pay our bill within 3 days and if not the power would be closed and they would take down the meter. So because we not stay home when he come we have to drive a round trip of 100 km to the main office to pay the bill. And we still not got the bill, only this note.

Why cannot this stupid guy just put the powerbill in our mailbox and we will go to his home and pay. Does he expect us to stay home every hour between the 20. and 25. waiting for him to come? Why cant they just give us a bill that we can go to the post office to pay. What about if we somethime goes for a trip for one week? When we come home the power is closed and the meter i gone?

Do you have the same system in your village ore how do you get your powerbill?

We have the same here.

After experiencing this whole circus one time(we were 15 days in Bangkok ),I decided to tip the collector.

He will come back till we're home He simply doesn't want to miss the tip

[MeMock]

We have been away the last three times the power man came calling and thank fully our neighbours paid it for us and we fixed them up when we came back.

[happylarry]

Just paid my bill today....went to the nearest 7/11 store....no problem.

HL

[loong]

Just paid my bill today....went to the nearest 7/11 store....no problem.

HL

The OP never received a bill, just a written note..........when you pay ay 7-11 can you use an old bill as long as you have the account number?

[happylarry]

Dont know the answer to that question about using an old bill at 7/11.

But it appears to me that there is nothing wrong with the system, only with the op's meter reader. Its him that needs sorting out, dont you think?

HL

[ijwelch]

We went to the main office to pay our bill today and to complain about the way they are doing things. They'r answer was that this is the way we do. They would not drop the bill in the mailbox because they was afraid people would wait long time before they paid. Thats why they just put the note up with 3 days limit for paying the bill, if not they close the power. My wife asked for the bill today but they didnt have it. So we just had to pay the amount that the lokal powerguy wrote on the bill.

We asked for direct debit in the bank. We could do that, but we had to have a bankaccount in a bank in the same city as the main office was. We say that we had a bankaccount in Bankok Bank in another village but that could not be used. So if we liked to have direct debit we had to change bank.

I sympathise with you. But it sounds like you were given the runaround.

To get anything changed you'll need to escalate.

Thais just aren't used to complaints and this is a typical situation many of us find ourselves in. Once you speak to the 'right' person everything that was told you before is proved to be false.

To get this sorted you'll need a Thai who isn't afraid to cause a fuss, who will demand to see the boss when necessary and who will not accept BS like 'we had to have a bank account in the same city'.

Alternatively, have your 'bill' left at a neighbours house when you're out, or prepay.

[samgrowth]

I don't know about upcountry.

But in BKK, I have my phone, electric & water automatically paid via my credit card. Just call your cc up, fax them a copy of your bill, and they will set up an auto payment for you.

I have also set up my credit card bill to be deducted from my bank account.

You may ask why not have the utility bill deducted from my bank account direct? The reason is that you can see the amount taken from your cc a few weeks before the cc take money from your bank account. It case the amount seems strange, you have sometime to do something about it. I just don't like someone to just take money from my account without telling me first. Wife excepted.

I used a separate Krungsri GE cc just for the utilities bills; and do not charge anything else on that card. This cc is free for life (no conditions what so ever), and also provide free rewards points.