Can I overpay / add a deposit on my electricty bills ?

[THAILIBAN]

Next month I will be away for a longer period and won't be able to pay my electricty bill on time. can I "overpay" or pay in a deposit to cover those expenses ? and if so, what do I have to do ? can I just go to 7/11 and show them my old bill and tell them to add a specific amouint to my account, or will I have to go to the office of the electricty company in my district in person ?

hankls for any inpout....

[BngkkB]

Why don't you pay it online from your Thai Bank Site? I pay my electric bill online and the account is actually in someone else's name as I am renting a house. Online you can overpay your electric bill so as you will have a credit balance with no problem. But on your next bill from the electric company it will now show how much credit you have with them so be sure to print out your payment receipt and keep track of what you send them.

[arnestockholm]

In Bangkok it does not work. At least when I use my Kasikorn online banking I just need to place in the customer number and it show up the current bill amount to be paid. So can't add any funds and when I try to pay the same bill it shows its already billed. But maybe different with other banks and electricity companies.

[Nana Cowboy]

most people don't have bill pay with a Thai bank. I'm pretty sure you need a work permit for that type of account. good question by the op. I have wondered this myself. hopefully some answers will be forthcoming

[Litlos]

Assuming you come under MEA (Bangkok) then how about direct debit or credit card?

Refer http://www.mea.or.th/faq/index.php?l=en&tid=4&mid=2764&pid=2652

If in another district with a different provider then they possibly have the same thing, looks like a visit to the office either way.

Cheers

[oneday]

You definitely don't need a Work Permit to have bill pay. I have a retirement visa and I have bill pay. My problem is I can't find the electric or water company among the payees.

[poooket]

A friend of mine said he got it on auto payment, so u just need to make sure u have some money in your Thai bank account. Don't know how he set it up but he use scb,

[JohnC]

I had a similar problem last year so I set up a direct debit with my Bangkok Bank account in favour of Pattaya Electricity Company, very simple to do and now just have to make sure there are enough funds in my account, I am also on a retirement extension with no work permit.

If the poster does not have a Thai bank account I suggest he visits his local electricity office with his account details rather than trusting to a 7/11. !

[Nobelcat]

While I've only done it accidentally, I think going to your local power company location should serve the purpose just fine. I wouldn't even try 7-11 as I don't believe their computers can figure that out (though you're welcome to try). Bring a past bill and give them the baht to overpay. If you have a Thai friend, have them write down what it is that you want to do because I've had issues at my local office with them understanding me.

So when I was out of town for longer than expected, the power company contacted the owner saying that they were going to disconnect service and there would be a reconnection fee. The owner just paid the bill and left it at my door for me to deal with when I got back. My next monthly rent just included the owed amount. So in this case my landlord saved me, but you can also realize with this that your neighbor, landlord, or someone else can always pay the bill on your behalf.

[theoldgit]

I pay mine through Internet Banking, and you don't need a WP to be able to do this, I've done it for years on a retirement extension , when I log in it automatically picks up the due amount, if I'm out of the country I access my bank account and it allows me to pay the correct amount on the due date.

[pomchop]

_{I tried to do the prepay at the electric company office in Chiang Rai a few years back....never could get them to understand or do it...but then found out if you only use very little electric then they don't bother to send you a bill....can't remember the free amount but it was enough to run a refrigerator which was all i left turned on....}

[HUAHIN62]

Why don't you organise a debit order? They deduct ours every month from our account and in 3 years we have had no problems. You get a form at your bank that the electricity department completes, you return the form to the bank and its done. We do our electricity, water and TOT this way.

[LALes]

In Pattaya, I believe you have to go to the Electric Company office and set it up. I've set up bill pay on the internet for my

internet and TV with no trips to an office, but it takes more than that to do it with the Electric Company.

[BuriramRes]

The electricity company here will allow you to set up an arrangement such that they automatically will debit your Thai bank account. I have not availed myself of this facility as I regularly have a very low balance on my account.

Can be done though.

[JusMe]

I set up a pre-authorized payment plan for my water, electric, and telephone accounts. Forms from the bank (mine's BKBK) to the individual companies and then returned stamped to the bank.

Been working successfully for several years now, and I don't have to be at the house to determine the exact amount of each bill - they're paid automatically from my bank, where I assure I've got enough funds to cover those low payments for several months.

[sexy man]

i have my electric,water and phone bills paid directly from my kasikorn account [pattaya klang branch] ask the bank they filled in a form for each .i then went to the electric.water and telephone office with my mia noi. the offices then filled in another form and took the ones the bank had filled in. just gave the forms from the companies concerned to my bank and my bills were automatically deducted each month. have done this over 3 years ago.just make sure you have sufficient funds in your bank account

[Langsuan Man]

Next month I will be away for a longer period and won't be able to pay my electricty bill on time. can I "overpay" or pay in a deposit to cover those expenses ? and if so, what do I have to do ? can I just go to 7/11 and show them my old bill and tell them to add a specific amouint to my account, or will I have to go to the office of the electricty company in my district in person ?

hankls for any inpout....

You will have to go to the electric company office in person and they will allow you to "over pay" your account this time since you don't have enough time to get it set up via a Thai bank auto debit

While there get an auto debit form from them and take it to your Thai bank when you return to Thailand and they will use the information from the electric company to set up auto debit for you in the future

Part of the confusion is that some banks list the electric company in their "billers list ", some don't. Most people don't want to change banks just because they do or don't have your electric company or other utility provider on their billers list. Most Thai banks will set up auto debit so long as they have the form from the utility provider

[arkom]

Actually I believe that you can.

I always overpay my electricity bill when I pay through internet bank (Bangkok bank), But I just over pay to a nice round sum. Like I should pay 1234.56 Then I pay 1235 or 1240.-

When I get next electricity bill they drag off what I over payed last time, it says Something unreadable in Thai, and -.44 or -5.44

I have not tried with bigger abount of money, but if it works on those few Baht and satang, i guess it works on bigger amounts as well.

Best regards

I had accidentally paid for my electricity bill twice via SCB Easy and the MEA put the second payment towards the next months bill.

So I imagine you can.

[BngkkB]

Some of you mention that the amount due automatically shows up in the pay amount? What Electric Company are you paying to? What Bank are you using? Also is the electric account in your name? Are you able to change the amount in the Payment Box?

I use SCB but as I rent my home the power bill comes in a different name than mine. When I pull up Bill Pay on my screen the amounts for all the accounts are always blank. But it would make it easier if the amount due would come up in the Pay box.

By the way, I have bill pay on my SCB account and I have never had a work permit.

Thanks for your help,

[BigSkip]

I am a retiree, SCB Bank, go to local electric company and setup auto bill pay, easy quick and just keep enough cash for 2-3 months to be sure. I get SMS when the bill is paid. Easy Peazy, Nice & Easy.

[54321]

Yes and I have done it three or four times, you have to pay at your local electricity office which can easily be found on line. If you do not speak Thai use the word "advance" failing that "future payment"

[orchidlady]

I do this at the MEA office at Chidlom. The clerk who processes payments understands what I want but doesn't know how to do this. She calls a manager who also understands English better than she does and he does it.

[Traveling Sailor]

most people don't have bill pay with a Thai bank. I'm pretty sure you need a work permit for that type of account. good question by the op. I have wondered this myself. hopefully some answers will be forthcoming

I live in a small village and have to deal with the Provincial Electricity Authority. I usually pay at 7-11. When I go to the Electricity office, they do not understand "credit". Same with the local TOT office.