Direct Debit For Electricity & Water

[johnbarpic]

Can anyone please advise hoe to go about paying Utility bills by Direct Debit ?

Do I organise it direct with the utility office concerend or direct with the bank I wil be paying from. furnishing my utility account details to them.

ANY HELP GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!

[chuckd]

I have both water and electricity direct debited from my Bank of Ayudhya account.

You go to the bank first and get them to fill out the form for each. Then you take the forms to the water department and electricity office and they will take care of it from there.

At least that's the way I did it four years ago.

[Jingthing]

The electric office is in Naklua.

http://wikimapia.org/9848987/Pattaya-Electric-Authority-Where-you-get-new-meters-installed-and-pay-your-bill-if-too-late-for-7-11-to-accept-payment

[billaaa777]

Sorry to tell you, this is not a good idea. Unless you open a separate bank account for this purpose only.

Once you move, the bank will tell that they cannot stop the billing without approval from the utility companies.

So, then you go to the utilities and fill out a few forms and they never get processed.

And you end up getting billed forever. The only way I could get out of it was by closing my bank account. Fortunate for me, it was not one of my main accounts.

[Pib]

Additionally, if there is a billing error/overbilling/a bill you disagree with, it's too late as the business already has your money/payment...and getting money/credit back from a Thai business almost always seems to take months and numerous visits to the business.

[Jingthing]

I did set up a totally separate bank account just for that purpose.

I see the problem about moving, perhaps, but for me it has been a great convenience. I am very happy I did it but it was a bit of a hassle to get set up.

Edited September 9, 2010 by Jingthing

[thaicbr]

I find Internet banking is easier. Honestly i would not even think about a direct debit here. 

[Jingthing]

Once it is set up, nothing could be easier than direct debit. You don't even have to look at your bills, just make sure your bank account is funded. I put money in it once a year.

[nitnoymoy]

Once it is set up, nothing could be easier than direct debit. You don't even have to look at your bills, just make sure your bank account is funded. I put money in it once a year.

I seem to recall my electric had to be set up with bangkok bank and water with the tmb bank,so two seperate accounts needed Edited September 9, 2010 by nitnoymoy

[craigt3365]

I find Internet banking is easier. Honestly i would not even think about a direct debit here. 

So you are saying you can pay these via the banks internet system? I did that in the US, but have not started that here....would be fantastic!

[billaaa777]

So you are saying you can pay these via the banks internet system? I did that in the US, but have not started that here....would be fantastic!

I don't think you can pay your water or electric yet, hopefully someday. But you can pay your UBC and internet over the internet.

Maybe somebody will know if a bank lets you pay your water and electric, that would be great.

[MZurf]

Once it is set up, nothing could be easier than direct debit. You don't even have to look at your bills, just make sure your bank account is funded. I put money in it once a year.

I seem to recall my electric had to be set up with bangkok bank and water  with the tmb bank,so two seperate accounts needed

You don't need two separate accounts. I pay both water and elec. via a single account.

[longball53098]

We live in Ban Chang and set up direct debit with the PEA and PWA. Works good and no issues in almost 2 years. As I recall we went to the respective utility office first and got forms from each, went to the bank, in my case SCB, they did their thing with the forms and then we returned to the utility offices and completed the process and waited at least two billing periods and then the automatic debit kicked in to operation on both. In the case of the water it is debited on the 26 of every month and the electric is debited on or after the 30 of the month.

I use one of our two accounts for the debiting. We also have two TOT accounts set up for this as well.

I used to have the same system in the USA and I understand the possible glitches that can occur if something unusual happens. Someone commented about moving and stopping the service. This is not an issue for me as I have no plans to move,,,,,ever.

Sh&t can happen anywhere you live and bank. For me the convenience of the automatic payments far outweighs the possible flaws.

[doctormann]

Just pay at your local 7/11 - costs 10 Baht.

By the way, can direct debits be set up other than with a current account? I don't think it's an easy matter to get a current account without a work permit so a lot of us here only have savings accounts. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

DM

[suiging]

Sorry to tell you, this is not a good idea. Unless you open a separate bank account for this purpose only.

Once you move, the bank will tell that they cannot stop the billing without approval from the utility companies.

So, then you go to the utilities and fill out a few forms and they never get processed.

And you end up getting billed forever. The only way I could get out of it was by closing my bank account. Fortunate for me, it was not one of my main accounts.

Same experience. Easy to open, bloody impossible to stop. Proceed with caution.

[Jingthing]

Sorry to tell you, this is not a good idea. Unless you open a separate bank account for this purpose only.

Once you move, the bank will tell that they cannot stop the billing without approval from the utility companies.

So, then you go to the utilities and fill out a few forms and they never get processed.

And you end up getting billed forever. The only way I could get out of it was by closing my bank account. Fortunate for me, it was not one of my main accounts.

Same experience. Easy to open, bloody impossible to stop. Proceed with caution.

Nope. If I moved I could simply close the bank account that I opened for the sole purpose of these debits. Then if they didn't process the cancellation notice, they would just stop the service if they try to draw on a non-existent account, and then the new occupant of where I live would have to deal with them.

[chuckd]

Just pay at your local 7/11 - costs 10 Baht.

By the way, can direct debits be set up other than with a current account? I don't think it's an easy matter to get a current account without a work permit so a lot of us here only have savings accounts. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

DM

The account I have used for over four years is a savings account, specifically used for the direct debit.

If we sell the house, I will merely close the account. Issue solved.

[barryofthailand]

Why in the world would someone want direct billing with any utility company in Thailand.

Bills can be paid at 7/11, so where is the convenience Jing?

I had a friend that set up direct billing, and the guy who read the water meter keyed some extra zeros by mistake, and he was debited 200,000 Baht. Believe me eventually direct billing will come back to bite you.

Barry

[longball53098]

It takes at least 18 days before our account is dinged the invoiced amount for the water bill and about the same for the electric bill. This is more than enough time to go to either office to prevent over charging on either bill in event of an input error. I have no desire to travel to the nearest 7/11 to pay withing the time allowed. We live 15 minutes from the closest 7/11 and that would be a special trip just for that as we never go in them otherwise. I'll deal with the billing error if and when it happens.

Different strokes for different folks keeps the world spinning.

[Pib]

I prefer payment via internet banking....I use Bangkok Bank. Allows me to lookover the bill, and if I agree with it, I logon and pay....only take a couple of minutes. The payment is immediate to the utility company....the payment fee is many times free and sometimes it cost 10 baht. And with some utilities, like my DTAC postpaid cell phone bill, about 5 seconds after I click pay on the Bangkok Bank payment button I get a SMS from DTAC saying they received the payment in XXX amount with their thanks.

I can pay every utility type bill I get via internet banking with the exception of the water bill...the Metropolitan Water Works here in Bangkok don't use payment by internet banking...instead you have to go the 7-11 type route, pay at their office, various other outlets or banks, or maybe direct debit will work. You supposedly can pay through your bank using phone banking but it requires you to enter dozens and dozens of billing digits and follow all the voice prompts--too much hazzle...I tried it "once."

What's also good about the internet banking is you have a history file/record on line of payments going back X amount in time. I'm a pretty happy camper with my Bangkok Bank internet banking.

[farangpattaya]

Direct debet is a good solution, especially if you live abroad and are not able to pay the bills by yourself.

If you don't agree with a withdrawal however, you can order your bank to 'undo' the payment until further notice., but therefore you must do this at the bank in person

Paying the utility-bills in Pattaya is not possible (yet) with Kasikorn. In Bangkok it is possible.

You can check the backside of your uitility-bill for ways to pay (unfort. in Thai)

Edited September 12, 2010 by farangpattaya

[Rimmer]

Paying the utility-bills in Pattaya is not possible (yet) with Kasikorn. In Bangkok it is possible.

That's strange, I have been paying via direct debit through K Bank for three years already

[farangpattaya]

Paying the utility-bills in Pattaya is not possible (yet) with Kasikorn. In Bangkok it is possible.

That's strange, I have been paying via direct debit through K Bank for three years already

Great, a few months ago I aksed the bank (KBank - branch Amata Nakorn), at that time it wasn't possible, well..........probably they couldn't explain HOW and that's similar to CAN NOT.

I'll give it a try with the upcoming bill.

Edited September 13, 2010 by farangpattaya

[Jingthing]

I use K-bank in Pattaya. The advantage of course is never being late on your bills and not even worrying about looking at them. Couldn't be easier. 200K baht bill in error? Won't happen to me, I never have more than 30K in the account. Do what you want but please don't try to convince people that are using the debit system that it is a nightmare when it ISN'T.

Edited September 13, 2010 by Jingthing

[Rimmer]

I did have a glich one time, I was in the house on my own, when I saw a PUB truck pull up outside our gate in one of the cameras, I went out and they had a list of people to disconnect and we were on it, they could not get at the meter as that is inside a 3 meter wall next to our own transformer, I called up my wife who then called the electric company in Hue Yai, it turned out that someone had made up a list of names for disconnection for non payment and we were somehow on the list. The bill had been paid on the due date as confirmed by the bank on the phone and then confirmed paid correctly into the PUB account, It was all sorted out over the phone between the truck guys and the office but very scary at the time

[craigt3365]

You guys got me going on this. So, went to Bangkok Bank branch near Boonthavorn and got the proper paperwork. Filled it all out. Went to the water and elec company and got their forms. This BB branch said we needed to visit the branch at either Central or Carrefour. So, we went to CF. Nope, have to go to Central. Went to Central...nope...things have changed. You now have to do it at the water or elec company's office. Ya would have thought they would have told us when we were there last week!!!!!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!