Standard Price For Electricity And Water / Unit?

[QuestionMark]

Hello.

I'm looking into renting in BKK, probably in the On Nut area - already looked at some objects and they vary in their electricity / water per unit pricing a lot. (electricity from 4/u to 8/u)

What is a reasonable cost here and would I have a chance trying to negotiate the price down (as I think I've read the price should be the same for all owners and they just add what they feel they can)?

also can anyone tell me how many units 2 persons with moderate airconditioning habits, 2 laptops and not much cooking would probably use a month?

many thanks in advance!

[ThreeProperty]

Hello QuestionMark,

About 6-7 baht a unit for electric and 18-20 for water is average for Bangkok.

2 people with a few hours AC usage in the evening and a fan in the day, averages around 1300-1500 a month electric and 200 - 300 water depending how wasteful you are.

[sulasno]

use solar energy so that you don't pay for electricity lol

no fridge and washing machine ? no TV too ?

you would be using about 400 units or less

[Litlos]

My electricity is at government prices so about 4 Baht per unit from memory. When I am home we use about 800 Baht per month and for air conditioner usage is no more than 1 hour per day. So if you are looking at double the tariff and higher AC usage my guess is you would be between 2000 and 3000 Baht per month. We use fans a lot and have the usual fridge, TV, hotwater for shower and electric wok for cooking. A friend of mine who lives in a non AC room at about the 8 Baht tarrif pays about 1000 Baht a month for electricity and only has a fridge, fan and TV with small amount of cooking. Lot of variables in this and one is we only get direct sun on the apartment for half an hour per day. Face the sun and the bills will be higher.

Water about 300 Baht per month plus about 200 Baht for drinking/cooking water from the filter machine.

Cheers

[LuckyLew]

If you are looking in OnNut area, it wold be better to try find condo building

In a lot of condo buildings get the true rate from the electric company 3.5 to 4 baht per unit

Appartment buildings will nto negotiate with you, their rate is their rate

That is how they increase their profits

I have condo, pay and pay elec .co rate. and use air con. from 10pm to 7am every day

Fan on all day with TV and laptop and my average rate is 2100 Thb per month.

Another important thing to try get in a rental is does building have their own wifi and

does building have lines available in case you want to use true or TOT for internet.

Believe it or not,some buildings have more units than phone line avail.

[jybkk]

If you are looking in OnNut area, it wold be better to try find condo building

In a lot of condo buildings get the true rate from the electric company 3.5 to 4 baht per unit

Appartment buildings will nto negotiate with you, their rate is their rate

That is how they increase their profits

I have condo, pay and pay elec .co rate. and use air con. from 10pm to 7am every day

Fan on all day with TV and laptop and my average rate is 2100 Thb per month.

Another important thing to try get in a rental is does building have their own wifi and

does building have lines available in case you want to use true or TOT for internet.

Believe it or not,some buildings have more units than phone line avail.

Agreed. It's much easier to control costs in Condo as you'll pay expenses yourself and not be billed by the owner without seeing the actual consumption. Many appartments owner make their money on these rather than on the rent itself.

My monthly electricity bill never goes above 2000THB. It's usually around 1500THB and we are using air-con at night in 2 bedrooms (but we're not home during working days).

The day I replaced my fridge, I saved almost 400THB a month just because the newer model was so much more energy efficient. Cleaning regularly your air con also helps a lot. First because it's healthier, then because they will also work more efficiently.

[QuestionMark]

Thank you all for many helpful responses!

I now have a related question, don't want to open a separate thread for it: a condo is when a building sells individual apartments which then get rented out by the owners.

If a building is mostly selling condos but also rents out some units itself, are those units considered condos or apartments (in context of likely electricity rates etc)?

[eMzyme]

pretty sure it would be condo prices, electric to be paid at the 7/11 water at the juristic etc....

[Litlos]

Thank you all for many helpful responses!

I now have a related question, don't want to open a separate thread for it: a condo is when a building sells individual apartments which then get rented out by the owners.

If a building is mostly selling condos but also rents out some units itself, are those units considered condos or apartments (in context of likely electricity rates etc)?

TIT - The building where I live has all variations possible on that theme. We were talking about it the other day with a few people who live there and the variations are all used. The building manager was there as well and he confirmed the variations. Depends on orignal owner, greed, phase of the moon who signs up etc etc.

Before signing up get it settled what the deal is. Otherwise what should be 2000 can become 4000 and who knows if there are controls on increases.

Cheers

[ronaldjp]

Electricity is largely dependent on the negotiations you have with your landlord! The Electric company charges near THB4.00 per unit.. Landlords add whatever to cover their expenses etc...

Water is nominal. Perhaps max 200 per month, depends how often you water the garden or how much your dog drinks!!!

We have One huge 35,000 btu aircon running 6-8 hours a day

One smaller 19,000 running 12 hours a day

One medium aircon running( I forget the BTU rating) at night about 7 hours a day

Our bill is THB 7-8,000 per month

but we pay the lowest tariff as bill comes from electric company direct

Good luck!

[Thighlander]

my last account with the electric authority was 3.72 total. 7 seems to be common in the apartments, I would look for 5 and some shade--also avoid top floors.

[williamlevin]

Does anyone know if an apartment building in Thailand can double the electric rate (from the 3 baht they pay to the electric company to 6 baht they charge to tenants) without disclosing this in the written lease or having a lease provision allowing this? My "rent" is about 2600 baht, but the electric alone is running about 2400 baht, and I have objected to this increase in the electrical rate as it is not in my lease. Thanks.

[KhunFred]

The View Talay Group of condos in Pattaya seem not to try to scam their customers on utilities. This was something I had been warned about before I moved to Thailand, but it hasn't been a problem. I run the AC for a few hours a day and the rest of the time, including all night, I use fans. The water has been anywhere between 300 and 400 baht a month. I can pay my utilities right at the front office unless I am late, and then I have to go downtown to Central Festival Mall to pay. Good incentive to be on time. I have never really acclimated to the heat as many said I would, but I HAVE been able to learn to sleep with only a fan. When I was working, the fan bothered me and kept me awake. Now that I no longer work, it is not an issue. Strange how the mind works. ????

[jackdd]

9 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

The View Talay Group of condos in Pattaya seem not to try to scam their customers on utilities. This was something I had been warned about before I moved to Thailand, but it hasn't been a problem. I run the AC for a few hours a day and the rest of the time, including all night, I use fans. The water has been anywhere between 300 and 400 baht a month. I can pay my utilities right at the front office unless I am late, and then I have to go downtown to Central Festival Mall to pay. Good incentive to be on time. I have never really acclimated to the heat as many said I would, but I HAVE been able to learn to sleep with only a fan. When I was working, the fan bothered me and kept me awake. Now that I no longer work, it is not an issue. Strange how the mind works. ????

For this you had to dig up a 7 year old thread?

And you are probably charged too much, we pay about 100 thb per month for water for 2 people.

[blackcab]

As the OP has not been back to the forum for 6 years, this thread is now closed.