Does My Electricity Bill Sound Right?

[gregb]

672 units is only 20 units a day. If the building is as cheap as you say it is, then you almost certainly have an old, inefficient air conditioner as well. And probably a 15 year old refrigerator. 20 units a day is not at all unreasonable in this environment.

You are either going to have to learn to do without aircon or move. The reason people can rent places so cheaply is because they make money by scamming you for 8 baht per unit on your electric bill (and 20 baht or more per unit of water). The apartment is paying the commercial rate, which is about 4 baht. So they make 50% on everything you use.

If I were you I'd look for a condo or a townhouse with a bill direct from the MEA. At your usage level, it will save you a couple thousand baht per month. You can probably get a much nicer, bigger place for not much more than combined total you are paying now.

[jackdawson]

12 hours a day

That's gotta' be wicked expensive.

You could get some fans.

My one bedroom is 1,000 a month. I run the air at night to cool down the bedroom before sleep.

Edited November 24, 2011 by jackdawson

[notnek]

672 units is only 20 units a day.

I've only been here for 23 days so it's closer to 30 units day.

[thaiIand]

I have a 3 bedroom house with 2 fridges, 2 ACs running at least 12 hrs a day, lights, giant washing machine, computer, fans, kitchen appliances....and we have never had a bill over 3k. You are being screwed, no matter the unit rate.

you are cheating the government though.

[travelmann]

I run the aircon at 20degC 90% of the time.

Ah, an arctic lover, probably explains the bill (does the compressor ever actually cut off?).

Try running at 23C.

Blimey wouldve thought 26c was better anything below that is collllllllllllllllllld although I know its personal choice.

[ignis]

The OP is a Newbie, maybe he is used to the cold.. I hate the cold, if I ever use air con then it is set at 28, but last year friends came for 3 weeks from the UK, they used air con at night and sometimes we had it on downstairs, the bill was over 1,300 baht more than normal.

Thai friend build a apartment block, all 46 apartment were the same, Thai renters were mostly well under 1,000 baht month, 60% of the renters are non Thais, most bills are a little over 1,000 baht, except 1 which was over 4,000 baht, He the owner was worried and had the meter checked and changed, the bill was the same, over time this came down, now 6 years on the bill from this apartment is just over 2,000 baht, so maybe it is the air con set at 20c ?

Try setting at 22 this month, 24 next month and see if this makes a difference, how old is the air con? when was it last serviced and cleaned?

[Naam]

I am shocked by what I read here. If you have a high usage the electric company will come to your house and try to find out the reason for it. They donot like large consumers of electricity here. They encourage less usage. I have a friend with a large bakery. They have 3 huge electric ovens working from 6 in the morning till late in the afternoon everyday.Also 2 large commercial aircons going all day to cool off the customer area. Plus huge commercial fridges for the bake goods out front that people open the doors on all day. Plus they live upstairs and use 3 aircons in the bedrooms. The electric company has come to their place and looked to see why they use so much. The electric company wanted them to cut back some how if they could. Their average monthly bill is 7000 to 8 000

So anyone with high usage at a private residence should get cooperation from the electric company if they looked into it.

my average use since more than 5 years is 12,000 Baht a month. until now the electric company couldn't care less. what "cooperation" can expect from the electric company? will they tell me not to use airconditioning but sweat? will they demand that i drain my pool or my pond, sell a few fridges/freezers, do the laundry by hand and dry it in the sun instead of using washer and dryer, cook over a charcoal fire in the garden...?

[wayned]

You're being taken for a ride. I live in the country and have 2 "farang style" houses with over 300 square meters combined hooked to one meter. I have 7 ceiling fans, 3 wall fans, 8 floorfans, 3 refrigerators, 3 computers, 3Tvs, 2 water pumps, 2 washing machines, kitchen appliances, a 24/7 hot pot and one ac unit. My average usage is 650 KWH/month. I pay 3.92 baht /KWH including VAT so the bill averages around 2500 baht/month. I don't use the ac very much , but if it is on at night for a month straight the bill increases to about 3000 baht.. Your paying too much/KWH and you must be paying for other people if you are using that many KWHs.

[timekeeper]

I am shocked by what I read here. If you have a high usage the electric company will come to your house and try to find out the reason for it. They donot like large consumers of electricity here. They encourage less usage. I have a friend with a large bakery. They have 3 huge electric ovens working from 6 in the morning till late in the afternoon everyday.Also 2 large commercial aircons going all day to cool off the customer area. Plus huge commercial fridges for the bake goods out front that people open the doors on all day. Plus they live upstairs and use 3 aircons in the bedrooms. The electric company has come to their place and looked to see why they use so much. The electric company wanted them to cut back some how if they could. Their average monthly bill is 7000 to 8 000

So anyone with high usage at a private residence should get cooperation from the electric company if they looked into it.

my average use since more than 5 years is 12,000 Baht a month. until now the electric company couldn't care less. what "cooperation" can expect from the electric company? will they tell me not to use airconditioning but sweat? will they demand that i drain my pool or my pond, sell a few fridges/freezers, do the laundry by hand and dry it in the sun instead of using washer and dryer, cook over a charcoal fire in the garden...?

i agree with Naam, my bills are around the same as his and i have the same kind of electrical bits and pieces you seem to have

its been as high as 15,000 in high summer and as low as 10,000 in winter but never less than that

as to electric company co-operation, i did get help from them

i was concerned it was maybe the mete and told them so

so they came out and installed a brand new meter running in parallel with my existing meter

it cost 500 baht for them to do so

that way they could compare new with old

the deal was if mine was faulty, i would get my 500 back and a new meter

they came back the next day and checked the readings

they were the same, so i lost my 500 baht but knew it was my consumption not the meter

they did advise using the aircons less as usual and running pool pump less

however i do not want a green pool and i like a cool house, so what can you do....?

except pay?

Edited November 25, 2011 by timekeeper

[lovelomsak]

I am shocked by what I read here. If you have a high usage the electric company will come to your house and try to find out the reason for it. They donot like large consumers of electricity here. They encourage less usage. I have a friend with a large bakery. They have 3 huge electric ovens working from 6 in the morning till late in the afternoon everyday.Also 2 large commercial aircons going all day to cool off the customer area. Plus huge commercial fridges for the bake goods out front that people open the doors on all day. Plus they live upstairs and use 3 aircons in the bedrooms. The electric company has come to their place and looked to see why they use so much. The electric company wanted them to cut back some how if they could. Their average monthly bill is 7000 to 8 000

So anyone with high usage at a private residence should get cooperation from the electric company if they looked into it.

my average use since more than 5 years is 12,000 Baht a month. until now the electric company couldn't care less. what "cooperation" can expect from the electric company? will they tell me not to use airconditioning but sweat? will they demand that i drain my pool or my pond, sell a few fridges/freezers, do the laundry by hand and dry it in the sun instead of using washer and dryer, cook over a charcoal fire in the garden...?

i agree with Naam, my bills are around the same as his and i have the same kind of electrical bits and pieces you seem to have

its been as high as 15,000 in high summer and as low as 10,000 in winter but never less than that

as to electric company co-operation, i did get help from them

i was concerned it was maybe the mete and told them so

so they came out and installed a brand new meter running in parallel with my existing meter

it cost 500 baht for them to do so

that way they could compare new with old

the deal was if mine was faulty, i would get my 500 back and a new meter

they came back the next day and checked the readings

they were the same, so i lost my 500 baht but knew it was my consumption not the meter

they did advise using the aircons less as usual and running pool pump less

however i do not want a green pool and i like a cool house, so what can you do....?

except pay?

I can believe both you and Naam, but I am still shocked that is very high usage and cost. I can only relate to those I know and their usage and costs, Another example I would like to give to help show why I say what I say. Another friend of mine owns two large schools here. One has over 1700 students the other about 500. All rooms have either fans or aircon going for at least 9 hours a day 5 days a week.So maybe 60 rooms including offices, computer rooms etc.. Plus lights going in all the rooms. Plus computers and what ever else is electric. I saw their bill one month the reader quy handed it to me one day while I was visiting the school. The bill was just over 1800 baht.

So to be honest it is very hard for me to comprehend anyone being able to use thousands of bahts worth on electric a month in a private residence.

[F1fanatic]

I am shocked by what I read here. If you have a high usage the electric company will come to your house and try to find out the reason for it. They donot like large consumers of electricity here. They encourage less usage. I have a friend with a large bakery. They have 3 huge electric ovens working from 6 in the morning till late in the afternoon everyday.Also 2 large commercial aircons going all day to cool off the customer area. Plus huge commercial fridges for the bake goods out front that people open the doors on all day. Plus they live upstairs and use 3 aircons in the bedrooms. The electric company has come to their place and looked to see why they use so much. The electric company wanted them to cut back some how if they could. Their average monthly bill is 7000 to 8 000

So anyone with high usage at a private residence should get cooperation from the electric company if they looked into it.

my average use since more than 5 years is 12,000 Baht a month. until now the electric company couldn't care less. what "cooperation" can expect from the electric company? will they tell me not to use airconditioning but sweat? will they demand that i drain my pool or my pond, sell a few fridges/freezers, do the laundry by hand and dry it in the sun instead of using washer and dryer, cook over a charcoal fire in the garden...?

i agree with Naam, my bills are around the same as his and i have the same kind of electrical bits and pieces you seem to have

its been as high as 15,000 in high summer and as low as 10,000 in winter but never less than that

as to electric company co-operation, i did get help from them

i was concerned it was maybe the mete and told them so

so they came out and installed a brand new meter running in parallel with my existing meter

it cost 500 baht for them to do so

that way they could compare new with old

the deal was if mine was faulty, i would get my 500 back and a new meter

they came back the next day and checked the readings

they were the same, so i lost my 500 baht but knew it was my consumption not the meter

they did advise using the aircons less as usual and running pool pump less

however i do not want a green pool and i like a cool house, so what can you do....?

except pay?

I can believe both you and Naam, but I am still shocked that is very high usage and cost. I can only relate to those I know and their usage and costs, Another example I would like to give to help show why I say what I say. Another friend of mine owns two large schools here. One has over 1700 students the other about 500. All rooms have either fans or aircon going for at least 9 hours a day 5 days a week.So maybe 60 rooms including offices, computer rooms etc.. Plus lights going in all the rooms. Plus computers and what ever else is electric. I saw their bill one month the reader quy handed it to me one day while I was visiting the school. The bill was just over 1800 baht.

So to be honest it is very hard for me to comprehend anyone being able to use thousands of bahts worth on electric a month in a private residence.

Presumably they both have ac on all day in at least a couple of rooms. Otherwise, there is something seriously wrong.

When I lived in a 2 bed house with a swimming pool, the electricity bill (1500 bht p.m) was roughly twice the cost of a house without a swimming pool (using the ac only at night in one bedroom in both cases).

[Naam]

I can believe both you and Naam, but I am still shocked that is very high usage and cost. I can only relate to those I know and their usage and costs, Another example I would like to give to help show why I say what I say. Another friend of mine owns two large schools here. One has over 1700 students the other about 500. All rooms have either fans or aircon going for at least 9 hours a day 5 days a week.So maybe 60 rooms including offices, computer rooms etc.. Plus lights going in all the rooms. Plus computers and what ever else is electric. I saw their bill one month the reader quy handed it to me one day while I was visiting the school. The bill was just over 1800 baht.

So to be honest it is very hard for me to comprehend anyone being able to use thousands of bahts worth on electric a month in a private residence.

to be honest... it is very hard for me to comprehend how anybody, who knows the basics of multiplication, can believe that a school or a big home can use any airconditioning and the bill is 1,800 Baht

a bread-and-butter aircon unit with a capacity of 12,000 btu/h uses 1.1kW per compressor runtime hour which costs ~4.4 Baht. id est, a single unit as described before, used in cooling mode 50% of the time runs up electricity cost of 1,584 Baht a month.

now let's take a look at the 60 rooms and assume only one fan per room (9 hours a day 5 days a week), no aircon, no lighting and no computers used. the calculation looks like this:

60 x 40w = 2.4kW per hour x 9 = 21.6 kW per day x 22 days = 475kWh x 4 Baht = 1,900 Baht per month.

no fairy tales please!

[Crossy]

Our bill (direct from PEA) for a two bed condo with just me and the Missus is between 3 and 4 k per month.

Not heavy A/C users but we have a standing load of about 800 Watts of IT kit and fish tanks running 24/7 which makes up the majority of the usage.

[ozzydom]

Strange things happen in Thailand. A friend, in Chiang Mai moved into a conjoined 2 bedroom house , his first bill was of similar astronomical proportions,it was a similar one aircon residence to what he had vacated so he had an idea of what his bill should be, he asked the electricity supplier to check it out.

They found that the house adjoining had a 6 machine commercial laundry in the back and they had "tapped into his meter".

[Naam]

Presumably they both have ac on all day in at least a couple of rooms. Otherwise, there is something seriously wrong.

When I lived in a 2 bed house with a swimming pool, the electricity bill (1500 bht p.m) was roughly twice the cost of a house without a swimming pool (using the ac only at night in one bedroom in both cases).

"using the ac only at night" and "2 bed house" is less explanatory than the statement "in winter it is cold". there is a huge big difference between cooling down a bedroom of 10m² to a temperature of 28ºC when the outside temperature is 26º and cooling down a bedroom of 30m² to 20º when the outside temperature is 30º. moreover, a two-bedroom house can have 65m² or -like in our case- 650m².

and yes, your assumption (as far as i am concerned) is correct. there's nothing seriously wrong because we are cooling a big part of our house 18-20 hours a day to ~26º and less used parts to 28º; during the remaining hours only two rooms are airconditioned. the aircon share of electricity cost varies between 60% in the hot and 40% in the "cool" months (if any cool months in the Pattaya area). i am looking with big envy at the weather up north where night/early morning temperatures are already down to 17º and most probably soon even lower.

[kurnell]

I have a 3 bedroom house with 2 fridges, 2 ACs running at least 12 hrs a day, lights, giant washing machine, computer, fans, kitchen appliances....and we have never had a bill over 3k. You are being screwed, no matter the unit rate.

you are cheating the government though.

again??

[thaiIand]

Naam why dont you have your 'group' changed from advanced members to 'This man has a humongeous expensive house and land in pattaya" That way you dont have to explain it in every thread when people compare themselves to you with their 15"sqm kingsize studios and their 2br "house" on 30square wah

[thaimate]

We have a large detached house ,the aircon runs about 6 hours a night in ours and our sons bedroom ,we have fridge freezer ,fans on constantly ,tv,s laptop and tower computer ,the wife cooks with electricity and i have a hot bath every night ,wife and son showers ,lights never seem to be off and our bill was 2200 last month

[fletchsmile]

Sounds high to me.

I had a similar experience years ago, when my bill just started to increase without reason. I raised with management and all they would do was check the meter reading and recalculate. They couldn't or wouldn't look into my point of why the number of units had gone up.

Later I raised my suspicion was that the maids/someone was using my room when I was out. When i came home and switched on the TV it was always on a Thai TV channel - which I never watch. The TV comes on on the last TV channel you watch. Certain times the room was cooler than others on my return too, as if someone was using the aircon All they said was they would check the meter again.

Last straw was when I returned from a vacation and found the kettle full of boiled water, but unplugged. I took it down to management and asked them to explain how my kettle could be filled with boiling water when unplugged and I'd been away a week. Their answer was that they would check my meter

After that I gave up and moved. I believe with it being the first room on the corridor, and knowing I was out at work, the maids used it as their collection point. No-one else had a key. the only alternative was Thai ghosts watching Channel 7, using the air con and making a brew. It's the air-con mainly that racks up most of your bill

Another friend in a different place found out their electric meter was tapped into by a neighbour, so they were paying for them on top.

So, yes looks high, and 3 possibilities for you - of many

[Familyonthemove]

Yes, as many have said, too high for normal use (my two bed with 3 ac units and bigTV will not go above 3000 THB per month). But ac is the main issue, I don't use ac at night and only a few hours a day. If you have a housekeeper/maa baan anbd she runs the ac all day, you can hit 4000 THB+

[notnek]

The bill lady was shocked at the cost and said that she plans to replace the AC in my room. I had to pay the bill but they asked me if I wanted to change rooms and I accepted. In my new room, 26C is fine and feels the same as 20 did in my old room. I've also bought a fan to use at night so I'm hoping my bill for next month is closer to 1000 than 5000B.

Edited November 26, 2011 by notnek

[SimonD]

When I was living in Pattaya, we had a 2 bedroom bunglow with two a/c (main bedroom & living room). Normal usage 1,200 -1,500 baht/month. I found the main drain on the 'leccy was the wanton wastage by my GF: a/c running with windows/doors wide open, lights burning during the day, tv on with no-one watching it, fridge door left ajar etc. So we compromised. Everytime she turned one appliance on, I turned it off. A/c were partly replaced by pedestal fans (and a/c units were serviced every six months), new low energy units replaced old 'powa' guzzlers. Under this new regime the bills dropped below 1,000 baht/month. GF's temperature went up but that's another story!

Another cost to factor in is visitors (any race). Each visitor will add ~20baht/day to your bin as they don't care about the usage, quite apart from raiding your fridge and eating you out of house and home!

Edited November 26, 2011 by SimonD

[theblether]

See if there are any Scotsmen in your building, they are experts at bypassing meters.

[DGS1244]

Your A/C's must be one of your main problems, had the same last year then turned them off and saw the bill dropped to 10% of what it had been. Think you may be under a misconception that when your turn a A/C to lower temperature it comes out colder, wrong, the temperature of the cooled air remains constant, the room temperature is governed by the A/C turning it self off and on. If faulty then it never turns off and you pay the consequences.

[ydraw]

500-700 units per month is pretty standard for a 1 room apartment with aircon running 12 hours per day. The real problem you have is the unit rate you are being charged. 8 baht per unit is more than double the rate your landlord is paying for electricity (between 3.3 and 3.8 baht per unit is standard). So no, I don't think there is anything fishy about the reading or what you are paying, I just think you are paying too high a rate and probably have your aircon set colder than what it needs to be.

[Naam]

Naam why dont you have your 'group' changed from advanced members to 'This man has a humongeous expensive house and land in pattaya" That way you dont have to explain it in every thread when people compare themselves to you with their 15"sqm kingsize studios and their 2br "house" on 30square wah

a good idea if some posters would refrain to use ridiculous expressions like "2-bedroom house" which is not more accurate than "that piece of a string was not very long". ridiculous is also "we use airconditioning a few hours per day".

by the way, our house is a "2-bedroom house" (no joke!) and building it was not humongeous expensive but cheaper than a double garage in a posh Munich or Hamburg suburb, cheaper than a newly built 1-bedroom flat in Singapore near Raffles Square and much cheaper that any of the houses we own(ed).

[Naam]

500-700 units per month is pretty standard for a 1 room apartment with aircon running 12 hours per day. The real problem you have is the unit rate you are being charged. 8 baht per unit is more than double the rate your landlord is paying for electricity (between 3.3 and 3.8 baht per unit is standard). So no, I don't think there is anything fishy about the reading or what you are paying, I just think you are paying too high a rate and probably have your aircon set colder than what it needs to be.

here we go again... "1 room apartment with aircon running 12 hours per day"

[Sydebolle]

Insist on the official bill by the Electricity Authority of Thailand (in BKK = Metropolitan, rest of Thailand = Provincial Electricity Authority). Unable to prove, settle for half. A unit is (max.) THB 3.97; your consumption sounds more like THB 1'500. I assume that there is a 3phase/380V meter into the building (costing THB 3.97/high and THB 1.02/low tariff; latter between 10 pm and 6 am as well as whole Saturday/Sunday) and the cheap rents are polished up with pampering the electricity and water bills 8-)

[wpcoe]

To the OP: You don't say how big your one-bedroom apartment is, but I will assume (risky, I know) that it is a medium-sized place, maybe around 50 sq meters? If so, yes, that bill seems high.

Also, is it one wall-mounted unit that is chugging along to cool multiple rooms? Generally, a unit in the bedroom is not intended to keep a separate living room cool, and would be significantly under-rated to do so. e.g. A 9,000 or 12,000 BTU unit would probably be appropriate for a moderate-sized bedroom/bathroom, but not an entire one-bedroom apartment.

I wholeheartedly agree with a few of the things mentioned already: have the a/c unit cleaned and serviced, and wait for the next monthly bill. (Do you have access to the meter to see that the readings are accurate?) Also, although probably not an issue in an apartment like it would be for a detached house, flip the main circuit breaker switch for your apartment to turn off all power and then check to see if the meter wheel is still spinning. If so, somebody somehow is leaching into your power supply.

If it turns out you really like the place and would like to stay there long term -- meaning the only negative is a consistently high electricity bill -- you might consider a deal with the owner: split the cost of a new air con unit, maybe even an inverter unit. Now, I would only do this if I found a great apartment in an ideal location. But, going 50/50 on a new air con unit could pay for itself in several months, if the B5,000+ bills continue to roll in.

[forumuser10]

Don´t use the air con, that is the only reason your bill is so high. I also saw you run it on 20 degrees celsius, that is even worse.