HUA HIN WATER COST vs PRANBURI

For the first couple of months after moving into a new house in 2005 (Soi 126 area)I paid water bills manually by going to the HuaHin office. I then set up a Direct Debit via a bank following which I never received any type of water bill at all. When home part of my morning routine is to read the water meter and maintain a log so I know the consumption.

After a year or so I went to the Water Office and asked why I was not getting bills to be told they didn't know and that bills were sent out monthly. At this point I should point out that my meter is old type albeit with a barcode label not 'chipped' with a RIFD.

Building a new house in Pak Nam Pran area the new meter is modern type and the meter man reads it remotely with his device and printes out the bill and drops it in the mailbox. I could see that, compared to a similar amount of water consumed in mt current house that the water per cubic meter was much more expensive. Before going to the Praburi water office I went to the Hua Hin water office to query billing costs when I was now told that the bills actually go to the bank and that I should see them. Off to the bank and they confirmed that they do get the bills and pay on demand. They gave me a two month old bill. From this I could see that for a consumption of (say) 80 cu m per month the cost is around 3.6 baht whereas my Pranburi bills are between 16 and 19 baht per cu.m. I found that using the Provincial Water website calculator that what I am paying is exactly correct to the Satang.

So now the question is not why Pran water is so expensive but why Hua Hin water is so cheap!

Any ideas? My wife says we are on the Muang supply that is always cheaper.