Getting Scammed By The Electric People

[H2oDunc]

Greetings all. Last Friday night at around 8pm I got a call on my mobile. The guy was Thai and spoke very little English so just handed him over to the Missus. It turns out it was a worker from the electric board. He told the missus he needed to replace some of the ceramic fuses as they were defective at a cost of 35,000 baht. Now upon going up to the transformer the fuses are on a government pole and are before our transformer. my reasoning is that they are the responsibility of the electric people and nothing to do with me. After the transformer any problems is down to me to repair or replace. I told them I was not paying and I had no problem with my electricity. The next day he again turns up and says he can just replace the fuse element of the part at 3,300 baht each and there are 3 as it is three phase. I again said no. He is now saying unless they are replaced he will have to turn off our supply. I have been to the electricity office in Nathon but they are pretty much clueless unless it is for payment. The guy is saying that as the pole is in our transformer compound it is down to us to pay. Anybody had anything similar. Every time the owner of the house comes here there is a " problem " with the electric and it costs him money

Pictures below.

[Rooo]

If the transformer is owned by the development, they are responsible for it. Re anything else to do with the supply to the transformer, should be Electric Co responsibility. Most if not all poles are owned by them, even if you pay them to install them. Tell him to give it to you in writing, so you can show it to someone in authority & watch his reaction.

PS :

Most private transformers are attached to Company power poles.

[H2oDunc]

Roo the transformer is ours. My argument is that it is their responsibility to get the power to our transformer. From there it is our responsibility. As the fuses are on the government pole before it gets to the transformer it is their problem and not mine. Or is that too simple a way of seeing it ?

[crusty]

If the transformer is owned by the development, they are responsible for it. Re anything else to do with the supply to the transformer, should be Electric Co responsibility. Most if not all poles are owned by them, even if you pay them to install them. Tell him to give it to you in writing, so you can show it to someone in authority & watch his reaction.

PS :

Most private transformers are attached to Company power poles.

Yes I think you are liable Dunc. We have our own transformer which is maintained and topped up with oil by the Electricity Department and each service we are billed Baht 5000.

[H2oDunc]

Crusty Hi. We also pay them to maintain the transformer etc. They come round and cut any plant growth etc but these fuses are on the pole before they attach to our transformer so as far as I'm concerned they are their problem. We pay them to provide power to our transformer. From there it goes to our distribution box where it is sent down the the house, the road lights etc.If the fuses are preventing them giving me power that is not my problem. I might add the power is fine and we have had no problems lately other than the normal power outages that we all get. That added to calling at 8pm at night out of the blue also stinks.

[gotlost]

If the transformer is owned by the development, they are responsible for it. Re anything else to do with the supply to the transformer, should be Electric Co responsibility. Most if not all poles are owned by them, even if you pay them to install them. Tell him to give it to you in writing, so you can show it to someone in authority & watch his reaction.

PS :

Most private transformers are attached to Company power poles.

I agree with the above. You are being coned. Tell him to .... off.

[H2oDunc]

In not so many words I have.It dropped overnight from 35,000 to 10,000. I have just been told they have pulled the fuses so its a stand off now.

[crusty]

Crusty Hi. We also pay them to maintain the transformer etc. They come round and cut any plant growth etc but these fuses are on the pole before they attach to our transformer so as far as I'm concerned they are their problem. We pay them to provide power to our transformer. From there it goes to our distribution box where it is sent down the the house, the road lights etc.If the fuses are preventing them giving me power that is not my problem. I might add the power is fine and we have had no problems lately other than the normal power outages that we all get. That added to calling at 8pm at night out of the blue also stinks.

Dunc, our private transformer and the one next door both have their own fuses and then they connect to the power lines. I think you will find your transformer has them also.

[sambai]

I think you should stand your ground and say there was nothing wrong with your electrical supply and that you do not believe his motives, full stop. Clearly his first attempt of charging you 35,000 was simply an arbitrary amount and as such it puts any further suggestion by him into serious doubt. Stand your ground.

[H2oDunc]

How can they tell me the fuses are defective ? The electric is fine and they haven't blown. If we had had some problems with the supply then OK but it has been fine. The only plus is no Thai soaps tonight Just a good read

[maccaroni man]

i'm not sure i understand, are the fuses on the power lines off your property or on your property, the reason i ask is because on the week end we had a fuse blow on the line off our property which caused us to lose power the current would fluctuate from 80 to 150 hence it was a problem, whenwe called they told us to contact our own power man until the wife made enough of a stink that they came out and found a short in the line, there was no charge to us but they did mention that if it happened on our land we would have paid.

[H2oDunc]

MM the fuses are as shown in the picture. The government pole is in the compound where the transformer is housed. We pay them to maintain it. The compound is on our land but the pole is their property so their problem as far as my Farang logic sees it. From the transformer it then becomes my problem or as siad is that too sensible ?

[Rooo]

This is what I said. Anything on the pole is their responsibility, the transformer is yours. As I said, ask him for a written report or invoice of what you have to pay. Make sure it's a legal invoice not a no name invoice.

Had these big fuses replaced on our pole that houses the transformer, no charge.

[crusty]

Roo the transformer is ours. My argument is that it is their responsibility to get the power to our transformer. From there it is our responsibility. As the fuses are on the government pole before it gets to the transformer it is their problem and not mine. Or is that too simple a way of seeing it ?

Dunc your pics clearly show your fuses are on your transformer and you are liable BUT if you still have power then there is nothing wrong with them so tell him to piss off or ask an engineer friend to have an opinion. Most resort engineers will look at your config,. and tell you if you are being screwed. You are welcome to borrow our guy if you wish. Attached is the transformers of ours and our neighbour and you can clearly see the fuses (3) are on our side of the island's power lines thus we are liable.

[screamingeagle]

Now I remember why I rent. Never have this bullshit!!!!

[dom samui]

The Electric Co responsibility ends at the meter. After it's yours so... I don't let them anymore take care of the maintenance of the transformer (incompetence) but now work with a surat based Co, they filter the oil every 3 years and change every 5.It is their responsibility to get the power to the meter, not after.Hope it helps.

[limbos]

The fact that he went from 35K to 10K overnight tells a lot. I would follow Rooo's advice and see what happens.

[Deke]

From the pictures, the fuses are on your property and protecting your transformer so they are your responsibility. BUT, if there is no problem with them, there should normally be no reason to replace them.

Why does PEA say that they need to be replaced?

[Rooo]

Any updates?

[H2oDunc]

It is basically looking like they are going to get their money. He now says he needs to replace the three fuses on the pole in our transformer compound and the pole immediately before this pole. He says it is to protect the transformer as they are having some surge problems with the generator and IF, and thats the word thats getting me worked up,if the fuses Fail it will cause damage to the transformer and it will be very expensive. I think the transformer was 900,000 baht a few years ago.

So all to save the farang money so no problem. My argument that they have to provide power to my transformer went out the window as the road they are all on is still classed as private.

The road up the mountain is not quite connected to the government road. Evidently If you join it to the government road the land owners along the road have to pay a little tax. As we are the only ones up here they do not want to connect it so basically knackered.

Ah well the joys of living in paradise. Also it isn't me that cops the bill. I do though feel for the owner as it is a beautiful house but just keeps costing him money month after month. A house SUPPOSEDLY built to Western standards yet is full of your typical Thai incompetence. Deservedly the company has gone bankrupt.

Nobody want to very cheap house

[user786895]

Yes, in my opinion you are being scammed. It seems that there are rotten elements within the Provincial Electricty Authority PEA) that have decided to start to fleece farangs. Last Saturday 7th August we had yet another power cut - these have been happenng daily what with the storms and the trees thrashing around. And after going out on the bike to see where on the road the fuses had blown, we came back and asked our Thai neighbours to call the PEA to inform them. The power was duly put back on within a couple of hours, but strangely it went off again within the hour, strangely because there was no storm, no wind and no rain. I duly set off once more to spot which fuses had gone. I was surprised to find that it was the transformer on the project at the bottom of my road. On inspection it was not the three large fuses as depicted in your posting that I expected to find hanging down, but rather the three smaller ones which are found underneath the transformer itself. What was really odd is that these fuses do not normally hang down when they blow, they operate in a totally different fashing to the large fuses, they just blow like a normal household fuse f they blow at all. But all three were hanging down... The middle one's attachment had been bent too, and the third fuse also had a wire hanging off at the back of it. It was clear to me that somone had pulled on all three one after the other and on the wire too to break it. Sure enough when my neghbours called again the men from the PEA said straight away that they had been and seen it and to tell the farang that it would cost 2,500 baht to fix. With the next 4 hours they called 10 times. Little did they know that 'a friend' had been and fixed it already. The next day the power went again, and our neighbours did their stuff and called the PEA. Their first question was what did the farang say? They were told that they had yet to see us to speak to us. We then went out for a drive and who should we meet but the PEA truck on the road. They flagged us down, and pointed in the direction of our home saying "Problem, problem!" And me replying and pointing in the opposite direction "Problem there not here!" They nevertheless insisted on going to our transformer; funny that because no one had ever told them that we had a problem with it. They stared at it for about 5 mnutes quite mystfied, then they looked angrly at me. I ponted at them both, and mimed the action of pullng down the fuses and things went very quiet. They then hopped into their truck and went up another road where I am sure more farangs live. An hour later I came acrosss them at the road junction where the transformer with the problem is located, they were happily working away and the power was restored in short order. I have taken pictures of the project's transformer, I have the registration number of the PEA truck and the private telephone number of the PEA man who kept phoning my neighbours. Next time it happens...

[H2oDunc]

Very similar to the scam at mine but I have the added problem being the only one up the mountain so am an easy target. Turns out they can change just the fuse part and not the whole ceramic unit for 3,300 baht per piece, VAT and taxes included of course cough, cough, cough All to save the Farang money of course