Outrageous hike in water and electric bills!

[KhunDude]

My GF and I own a 4 room guesthouse in Pattaya. For quite some time the average electric bill with all rooms full has been around 3500THB. The average water bill is around 800THB. Last month the electric bill jumped to 9800THB with only one room booked all month. This month the water bill has gone to 8890THB with half occupancy! We checked for leaks in the water and there are none. The electric company did not even read the meter. How can they lawfully triple the electric bill with less than half of the previous usage(Effectively around a 600% hike). How can they increase the water bill by 1000%? We have been told that they will not change either bill and we must pay or lose the service. This is extortion! Is anyone else having similar issues with the Thai Government utilities? It is like they are trying to put us out of business! First, at the beginning of low season we have a coup and we see no customers for a month. Then we are faced with a 16000thb increase in our utility bills! This is outrageous! Does anyone know if we may have the ability to file a grievance somehwere? I mean really, I could have paid less for water if we used drinking water and hired someone to run a bicycle powered generator! Any advice is welcome...

Edited July 8, 2014 by KhunDude

[trogers]

My GF and I own a 4 room guesthouse in Pattaya. For quite some time the average electric bill with all rooms full has been around 3500THB. The average water bill is around 800THB. Last month the electric bill jumped to 9800THB with only one room booked all month. This month the water bill has gone to 8890THB with half occupancy! We checked for leaks in the water and there are none. The electric company did not even read the meter. How can they lawfully triple the electric bill with less than half of the previous usage(Effectively around a 600% hike). How can they increase the water bill by 1000%? We have been told that they will not change either bill and we must pay or lose the service. This is extortion! Is anyone else having similar issues with the Thai Government utilities? It is like they are trying to put us out of business! First, at the beginning of low season we have a coup and we see no customers for a month. Then we are faced with a 16000thb increase in our utility bills! This is outrageous! Does anyone know if we may have the ability to file a grievance somehwere? I mean really, I could have paid less for water if we used drinking water and hired someone to run a bicycle powered generator! Any advice is welcome...

Do your main meters tally or close to the readings stated in the bills? You can file your grievances against state bodies with the Administrative Court.

[Crossy]

Read the meters, it's possible someone left the A/C on all day and the bath running.

Compare with previous bills, power and water rates have not increased by anything like that amount.

Go and see the utilities in question again, this time with the meter readings, talk to the boss.

EDIT If you like post the meter readings for the last 6 months or so here, many of us take pleasure in working out the correct bills (no, I'm not one of them).

EDIT 2 Are you on government rates, or is there a greedy landlord between you and them?

[JeremyBowskill]

older poorly serviced aircons can quite often burn through electricity, I had 1 in my old apartment that went from 1k a month to 6k a month!

[jacko45k]

Have you been recategorised recently from being on a personal tariff.

I know the price of LNG is hitting electrical prices hard.

[pianoman]

This house that I live in for the past 6+ years has always had a water bill in the 250 to 350 baht range per month... There are 4 or us living here so many showers per day... The bill I just received for the last 30 day period was 845 baht, with no real reason for the increase other than my GF said "all power & water go up now"... So much for "Cheap Utilities" while living in Thailand... This will really effect some of the poorer Thai's in the area....

Pianoman

[CMSteve]

We've had times in the past where the meters were not read, but instead a bill was made for an estimated amount (based off of the same period from the previous year). It all worked itself out when the next(metered) bill arrived. Check your records for last year and see if its close to what they are charging on this bill.

[kerrysum]

Uh, because it affects you? Look at Agenda 21 , authored by the United Nations. It is all about control.

Kerry.

Can't speak about Pattaya, was never there, and will never be. Even when it was a popular place for GI's years ago. Kerry

[spacemand]

If you have your previous bills it should show the previous meter reading and your current reading.

My electric from PEA shows the previous reading the current and the use.

My water bill the same.

I ran 2 old aircons 24/7 and the bill were around 6K with 7 people in the house and the water were around 800.

Now I live aloneits about a quater of that.

[hkt83100]

Did you have a power fail on the one or other day? People tend to forget to turn off the aircon, because it is "off" already. When power comes back, the aircon might run for the rest of the day. The same might happen to the water, if you have a pump for sufficient pressure. No electric, no pump, no water. Forgot to turn it off, and then power comes back... Just an idea...

[CraigSchuler]

A lady at the electric company told me once that if I didn't like their level of service that I was free to install my own power plant and discontinue their service....

[old china hand]

FIRST THING TO DO IS SHUT OFF ALL ELECTRICAL USE IN YOUR PLACE AND THEN GO LOOK AT THE METER TO SEE IF IT IS STILL RUNNING. IF SO, SOMEONE HAS TAPPED INTO YOUR POWER AND YOU ARE PAYING FOR THEM TOO. OTHERWISE AS OTHER HAVE SUGGESTED, START KEEPING YOUR OWN MONTHLY READINGS OF YOUR METER SO YOU CAN VERIFY HOW MUCH YOU HAVE USED. YOU CAN DO THE SAME WITH YOUR WATER METER.

[KittenKong]

3500B/month for a 4-bedroom guest-house seems impossibly low to me, unless it's fan only. So I suspect you may have been paying too little previously.

The only valid solution is to study the current and previous usage in terms of units used as looking at it in terms of total price is meaningless.

[dddave]

Is it possible both companies had been underestimating your usage for a number of previous months, then did a read and this is a make-up bill to recover the discrepancy?

Seems odd both would discover it the same month unless they are using a contractor who does several readings at each stop.

[Pralaad]

3500B/month for a 4-bedroom guest-house seems impossibly low to me, unless it's fan only. So I suspect you may have been paying too little previously.

The only valid solution is to study the current and previous usage in terms of units used as looking at it in terms of total price is meaningless.

Have to agree, I pay 3500 for a 2 bed house where I live alone

[waynerooney]

not cheap in Thailand anymore, my UK bill is 4359 bt per month over a 12 month period, ok no air con but central heating and a much better standard of safety etc.

[crazykopite]

I find it hard to believe that as a guesthouse you do not keep tighter controls over your electricity and water usage I would have thought as a business you are required to keep all statements of income and expenditure for the current financial year if this is not the case it is my humble opinion a sign of bad housekeeping. May I suggest you look at your previous electricity and water bills it could well be that there is a chance that someone could have tapped into your electricity to check this out I suggest you take a meter reading turn your main electric supply off for at least an hour and then put it back on if the reading is different then you need to contact the electricity board and tell them of your concerns. As a matter of interest I live in a 4 bed house with large swimming pool my average electric bill is 3.5 to 4,000 baht every month which is still a lot cheaper than mainland Europe .

[glasswort]

The way to check if there is an outrageous hike is not to compare total bills but the rate per unit. I live in Pattaya and the rates per unit for electricity and water have varied very little for the past five years.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

For a busy guesthouse, 9800 baht looks reasonable. Your new water bill is way out of line. But as others have said, it seems to me you've been undercharged for months.

[Lee4Life]

I don't know what the answer to your problem is, but I'm sorry you are receiving so many just plain rotten responses. It will be interesting to see how these same people react when something like this happens to them. It amazes me how quick so many are to jump on people who have a problem of any kind and say it must be their fault!

[bkkjames]

Sounds to me like someone is using your utilities somehow....

[dotpoom]

3,500 Baht that you were paying before this seems very reasonable for 4 full guest rooms presuming they have air cons. I rent one room and the bill is roughly that amount. I assumed most tenants leave the A/C on quite a lot if it is included in their monthly rental bill.

[Robert24]

you say the electric company didn't even read the meter. Normally, at least for the properties we have, they come and read the meter and then based on that they print you the bill for the month. Surely your girlfriend can speak to the government again and ask them to bill you according to the electric meter. The bill must be paid on the basis of usage. Doesn't your bill indicate the meter reading? Did they make a mistake with the meter reading, did you check this?

[dapsolapsalai]

I would just like to say that my combined water and electricity bill for a house in the outskirts of Bangkok is usually just over 300 baht a month. I think it was over 400 once which was slightly annoying. I don't run any conditioners but use a fan.

yours

a cheap charlie

[ChrisKC]

You are up against it I think!

You have extra consumption or there is an increase in rate or combination of both. It does seem that Electric and Water have been "hiked" at the same time. Utilities in Thailand do not normally work together in rate increases and therefore suggests to me that consumption rather than rate increase is the issue here.

Ask your g/f to check what the tariff you were on months ago and what you are on now. Check that the meters are working correctly.

And as an exercise, check the meter readings yourself every day for the next month keeping in mind the number of guests you have.

At my rented house that I don't live in yet my electric bill is B0 every month for last six months. While working in the house, (every day seven days a week) I have the fan on all day and my computer on about 7 or 8 hours. The Electric Company say I don't use enough units for a bill needing to be paid. I think they are saying, up to 50 units is free. No standing charge - where I am at least.

I don't use air-con myself ever. But I think it is the main electric-consuming item. It would be an idea to monitor it's usage more vigilantly. One thing you could do is check air-con is switched off when the rooms are not occupied i.e. when guests go out. You really do need to check what is ACTUALLY happening. It's all part of running a business.

Record all readings and if something is amiss when receiving new bills in the future you have some evidence with which to "file a grievance"

[AnotherOneAmerican]

3500B/month for a 4-bedroom guest-house seems impossibly low to me, unless it's fan only. So I suspect you may have been paying too little previously.

The only valid solution is to study the current and previous usage in terms of units used as looking at it in terms of total price is meaningless.

Have to agree, I pay 3500 for a 2 bed house where I live alone

I pay 1,500 for a 3 bed house with 5 of us.

(without air-con it's usually 1,000)

Edited July 9, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[slipperylobster]

Is it possible that you were previously paying residential, not business rates? It then got adjusted?

[sailbuddy]

Hi. Sorry for your troubles. I am relatively new here. 3 months. I rent a studio in a condo. One big room and a/c. The owner said the electric should be about 800bt a month if run the a/c 10 hours a day. I ran it maybe 18 hours a day and got a bill over 3000bt. She said, just pay it. I don't know what the answer is but it put budget out of whack and I am locked into 6 month contract. Which is why I am curious if it is the right bill or rates have gone up.

[ericthai]

Hi. Sorry for your troubles. I am relatively new here. 3 months. I rent a studio in a condo. One big room and a/c. The owner said the electric should be about 800bt a month if run the a/c 10 hours a day. I ran it maybe 18 hours a day and got a bill over 3000bt. She said, just pay it. I don't know what the answer is but it put budget out of whack and I am locked into 6 month contract. Which is why I am curious if it is the right bill or rates have gone up.

I think she lied to you. No way can you run aircon and only be 800. Dec, Jan, Feb I dont use my aircon only fans and our elec is around 800-900B

When I run the aircons it jumps up 2500, which I only run 1 aircon at night and 1 during the day but not all day late morning until early evening.

To the OP, Something is surely wrong, but also for a 4 room guesthouse with aircon being occupied 90% of the time I would say your bill has been low.

Sounds like the bills have been calculated and maybe then finally did a meter reading. Do you have your old bills to compare the usage? You need to see if the usage is the same or higher and if the rate per KWH is the same or has increased this will tell you everything. Once you find out please up date us, as i did hear about a rate increase. I'm still waiting on my elec bill.

[spektrum7]

Yes I Got a Greedy Farang Landlord charges us all 8 baht a unit for electricity here in Pattaya ,result 2 a/c,s ,shower fridge 4,700/mth ,tell,s me we are all buying his Transformer for him soon as lease finish I,m out of here ,,,,