How To Change Your Meter For The Electricity

[Dutchman6]

I normally only use about 500-1500w in my condo but with the new addition of an 8000w shower heater I had to change some cable, circuit breakers and I was also advised to change my meter from the currently 5-15Amp I have to a 15-45Amp meter. Now they're not that expensive fortunately (530thb at Home Pro) but it's an official thing right? Who is allowed to change it and get the numbers right on it again?

[Crossy]

Who do you get the bill from?

If it's from your condo (marked up to more than 4 Baht a unit) then the condo will own and replace the meter.

If it's from the local electricity authority (charged at about 4 Baht a unit) then you need to contact them for a supply upgrade.

Note, that if your meter cable is less than 16mm2 they MAY not change the meter to a 15/45. Although fusing down in your incomer to suit the cable would be OK, the condo / authority may not be happy to do that.

What size is the cable from the meter?

[Dutchman6]

My english isn't perfect, what do you mean with "Although fusing down in your incomer to suit the cable would be OK"? You mean making a new cable from the meter to my room?

I don't know how many sq mm the cable is, it looked pretty big, at least 10 sq mm by my quick judging but no 16 I think. The electricity is coming from the condo now, you advised me to upgrade the meter. 10 sq mm is enough for 40 amps right? I'd rather keep the 5/15 meter if it isn't necessary, I pointed it out to the electrician today and once more he said nothing about it, they seem rather busy though...

Edited December 20, 2010 by Dutchman6

[Crossy]

My english isn't perfect, what do you mean with "Although fusing down in your incomer to suit the cable would be OK"? You mean making a new cable from the meter to my room?

I don't know how many sq mm the cable is, it looked pretty big, at least 10 sq mm by my quick judging but no 16 I think. The electricity is coming from the condo now, you advised me to upgrade the meter. 10 sq mm is enough for 40 amps right? I'd rather keep the 5/15 meter if it isn't necessary, I pointed it out to the electrician today and once more he said nothing about it, they seem rather busy though...

Sorry, "fusing down" means using an incoming breaker suitable for the cable you already have rather than the maximum that the meter can handle. You really do need to check your incoming cable, it should be marked.

10mm2 will be OK fused at 40A, but your 5/15 will become somewhat unhappy with the 160% overload, it may not die but will become inaccurate (and they never read low).

If you're going to the trouble / expense of upgrading the supply you might as well do it properly.

[Dutchman6]

My 2.5mm cable was getting quite warm when I took a shower so I had this replaced, the cables are fine until 70*C and my new 6mm cable stays nice and cold. Conclusion is any cable larger than 6mm outside my room will be just fine for the intended usage and it is 10mm at least. I'll talk to the manager today and have them replace the meter for me, thanx alot for your help!

[Dutchman6]

Apparently my meter has been finally changed to a government electricity meter just a couple of days ago and therefore our electrician couldn't change it. Where do I apply for the government to change my meter?

[Crossy]

Apparently my meter has been finally changed to a government electricity meter just a couple of days ago and therefore our electrician couldn't change it. Where do I apply for the government to change my meter?

First thing to do is check if it's still a 5/15 they may have upgraded it for you already.

Where you go depends where you are

[Dutchman6]

Yes I checked it yesterday and it is still a 5/15 meter, I live in Pattaya. I thought you have to apply for the electra at Pattaya City Hall on North Pattaya Rd. near the Dolphin Roundabout but I'm not sure. Would this be the place to ask them to change the meter?

[bankruatsteve]

Just to try and make things simple... You should go to wherever you pay your electric bill (or wherever the electric bill is paid) and that is where you want to arrange to change your meter. That's all they do though (well actually they will do more on "the side"). So if you need cable upgrade, that should be done first. Don't buy a meter at HomePro as it will not be allowed for the primary.

[bankruatsteve]

Just to add - if my exerience helps... When I wanted to change my meter from 5 to 15, I went to the local power office (where we pay the electric bill) and asked what was needed to do. they asked how far my CU was from the meter - about 20m so they said I should install the cable using 25mm2 AL and just call them when ready for the meter change (which they would charge 3K baht or so). So, I went to the local supply place and bought 100m of the 25mm2 cable. Hired a local spark (b/c I don't like climbing poles) for 300 baht to string it and install the isolators etc.. Ended up using about 70m of the cable (ie: 2x35m including the up/down) and returned the rest to the supplier for a refund. And I ended up giving the spark 600 baht b/c he was at it for several hours and did a great job. Anyway... That's how I got my meter changed.

[Crossy]

To clarify for our OP, Steve used 25mm2 Aluminium cable, this would be approximately equivalent to 16mm2 Copper.

[surayu]

The account holder named on the electricity bill has to go to his local electricity office(the address should be on your bill), as someone already mentioned in earlier posts, yes you can find electricity meters for sale in many places, but they wouldn't be allowed by the electricity company (apparently is illegal), you can however use those meters if for example you are renting out rooms in your building and each room got his own meter for which you charge them your own rate for the electricity they use.

When i went to get our electricity supply, i mentioned that i wanted my meter installed on an electricity pole on my land(to easily spot anyone doing things they shouldn't), rather then using another very crowded pole on the other side of the road, they tried every kind of excuse to not to do this, they finally advised me that i could make a request to a different area electicity office if i wanted, but that they would tell me the same thing, "100% sure" he said.....so i went to another office dealing with another area and they happily agreed to instal the meter where i wanted.

The reason i did not want my meter to joining the other 10-15 meters on that pole is because one of the local habits seems to be doing "wiring bridges", you can find some kind of funny reports on this forum about it, one of the best i read was about that farang that was switching off the energy supply of his house/flat when he was away and when coming back home found his neighbour complaining that basically he couldn't continue stealing his electricity when he was doing this, ahh aaah you got to love this country!