Electricity In Samui

[poorfarang]

Whats the standard rate of electricity here?

In bangkok I was paying 2.5 baht per unit. Now I rent a house and the lady who rents these 10 houses pays the electric and charges us 6 baht per unit. Seems really steep but I dont have anything to comare it to here. Whats the going rate from the compnay if you pay the bill yourself?

[mitmig]

Including VAT and everything we pay per unit 3,62 baht. Before VAT its 2,53 baht. So your landlady is charging a lot!

[womble]

One of the first questions to ask when renting here is what is the charge for electric, water etc. If the electric is above government rate I would never rent. Where I am now I pay government rate and then a small service charge of about 30 baht which means I don't have to go to pay the bill, the owner send staff to my house with the bill, I pay them + the service charge and they take everyones bills to the office and pay.

I have heard people paying 15bt a unit!!! On an estate of 20 houses that is a lot of cash to the owner, a hel_l of a lot, it's a common scam on Samui to be charged above government rate.

[John 1]

No wonder you are a Poorfarang, just another example of the locals ripping us off, that why I feel sorry for them, Bullshit.

[Samuian]

The going rates have been mentioned already + the tariffs are progressive - the more one uses - the more one pays - small homes excluded.

yeah, the old, old story, landlords do like to have their 'cut' in it as well - at least what is on their very own bill - tradition in the LoS.

To be fair, one also has take a central waterpump, outdoor lightning fixtures, leakages, etc. into the equasion.

Edited September 7, 2006 by Samuian

[Jimbo551]

This is the calculation of my electricity bill on Samui

1.1.2 Consumption exceeding 150 kWh per month

0 to 150 kWh 1.8047 Baht/unit = 270.71

250 to 180 kWh 2.7781 Baht/unit = 500.06

400 up 0 kWh 2.9780 Baht/unit = 0.00

330kWh = 770.76

Service Charge = 40.90

Net Billed amount = 811.66

Surcharge per unit 330kWh @ 0.8544 = 281.95

Sub -Total = 1,093.62

VAT 7% = 76.55

TOTAL = 1,170.17

On a gross basis that works out at Baht 3.55/unit.

I pay direct to the PEA.

Edited September 7, 2006 by Jimbo551

[poorfarang]

In addition to that, the land landy split her samui cable and routed it to all 10 houses. She adds 450 baht to each of our bills and only pays that once for herself.

I never even turn my tv on. Im going to have to tell her I wont pay it anymore. Maybe I will complain about the electricty as well.

[womble]

In addition to that, the land landy split her samui cable and routed it to all 10 houses. She adds 450 baht to each of our bills and only pays that once for herself.

I never even turn my tv on. Im going to have to tell her I wont pay it anymore. Maybe I will complain about the electricty as well.

Are you sure she doesn't pay samui cable for every room, if she doesn't, go to samui cable and tell them you want to pay them, then she will lose her scam and you will not have to hand her the money knowing she is ripping you off.

[poorfarang]

Well Im not *sure* but its a pretty shady setup if you ask me. And considering she is raking it in on the electric then Im sure she isnt paying for the cable for each of us.

[Samuian]

.... then Im sure she isnt paying for the cable for each of us.

Yep, more then likely, there is a hefty fine on this, if you like where you stay, don't stir up the chocolate... I wouldn't - it's common practice, not only on 'mui and I believe the Operators are aware of it.

And there are (supposed) some 25.000 connections already - how much is that - times 450? Per Month! Times 12?

[LaoPo]

This is the calculation of my electricity bill on Samui

1.1.2 Consumption exceeding 150 kWh per month

0 to 150 kWh 1.8047 Baht/unit = 270.71

250 to 180 kWh 2.7781 Baht/unit = 500.06

400 up 0 kWh 2.9780 Baht/unit = 0.00

330kWh = 770.76

Service Charge = 40.90

Net Billed amount = 811.66

Surcharge per unit 330kWh @ 0.8544 = 281.95

Sub -Total = 1,093.62

VAT 7% = 76.55

TOTAL = 1,170.17

On a gross basis that works out at Baht 3.55/unit.

I pay direct to the PEA.

Jimbo: that sounds a bit odd to me (see bold) please explain....?

It sounds strange to me that the price/unit goes UP instead DOWN if one uses MORE units????

Also:

how much would an aircon for a bedroom consume per day/month* in Kw and how much would that be?

* if one uses it for 12 hours?

thanks

LaoPo

Edited September 7, 2006 by LaoPo

[Rooo]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=11654&st=0

This thread was running on the housing forum.

[mark lamai]

any time i rented in bangkok the electric was always double the going rate.

its not just farangs, its all folks in the block.

seems a common practice all over the country.

have heard prices from 6-8 bt around Lamai

[Jimbo551]

Don't ask me - ask the PEA - that is their published tariff and my bills are calculated exactly so.

This is the link to their site - English language version.

http://www.pea.co.th/eweb/

We run one bedroom a/c everynight from say 23.00 to 07.30, so 8.5 hours a night. The only other electric we use is for lighting, shower water heater, small electric oven, microwave, electric kettle.

The fuel surcharge was 0.4683 per unit last August (2005) and is 0.8544 this year. My monthly bill was always around Baht 800 in the cooler months and up to Baht 1,000 in the hotter spring summer months. It is now averaging Baht 200 - Baht 300 a month more.

[stiggy]

Hello

Koh Tao has goverment power in a few select places charged at 3 bht per unit,It is however very unreliable can just about use a toaster,

a good 80% of power is supplied by nangsen at 25 bht per unit. thats one rich family.

Had some bills in office with ac hitting 16000 (yup thousand a mth)

You samui guys have it easy....

dont even ask about cost of water....

[Scottbiker1976]

I pay for my 1 bedroom house in samui around 600-700 baht/month to the landlord.

We use the aircon from afternoon 1 or 2 pm till the morning in the bedroom because i work there on my desk.

The rest we use on normal things like lights, fridge,.......

I think it's quite cheap

Scottbiker

[taxexile]

thanks to the benevolence of the developers there are some people on samui paying over 50 (fifty) baht per unit for electricity.

i always thought that it was illegal to resell electricity with such huge markups.

[samuislander]

Depending on what type of Main Meter the place or housing estate has there are many variables.

3 phase has peak demand charges which depending on usage at certian times of the day cause a considerable increase in the bill.

Than there is the Fuel Adjustment Charge.

Now what happens if your house or the main cable to your house has a problem, everything after the meter is the responsibility of the land owner.

That means all the wiring past the meter, money needs to be collected so if there are problems there are moneys avaliable to make repairs.

The last project we completed pays over 5 baht a Kw in an average month. Each property is metered as is the common areas. Each property pay for what they use plus a small percentage for maintenance if the MDB and the system in general.

Another factor is the size of the transformer, uses a small amount of current even whne no current is being used, the size and length of the wire to each house (line losses).

The owner also had to put up a considerable deposit for the transformer 400 baht per/ KVA, plus installation and miselanous charges from PEA.

I thing that 6 baht a Kw is is very cheap, but it will go up and up.

[poorfarang]

When I get a long term solution figured out Im goin Solar all the way. You need to shell out some cash up front but its FREE power and you dont have to worry about the power cutting out (mine does often)

[Santidreamer]

The problem with solar is panels costing 200,000 Bth will not give enough electricity to run an air con unit.

They are quite good at heating water, but probably that is not all that important in the tropics.

They would be useful to save sensitive electronic equipment form power surges.

I have heard poor electrical supply on the island is responsible for wrecking PC really regularly, is this true?

[hecky]

i pay 3.2 baht plus VAT water is free the bill comes to the house we pay it at any 7/11 store they charge 10 baht i think. would never stay where the landlords adds 50% i have in the past but no more, i will also not pay for water. where i stay now free water, bill from electric company, we pay the cable our selves so no sharing of lines or add ons from landlady.

great family worth their weight in gold

Edited October 28, 2006 by hecky

[sbk]

The problem with solar is panels costing 200,000 Bth will not give enough electricity to run an air con unit.

They are quite good at heating water, but probably that is not all that important in the tropics.

They would be useful to save sensitive electronic equipment form power surges.

I have heard poor electrical supply on the island is responsible for wrecking PC really regularly, is this true?

Hence the need for a UPS (uninterrupted Power supply unit)-- basically a large battery.

I would never have any PC plugged in without it and the only hardware damage I get is from the elements, not the electricity. I live right on the beach and the salt air is very corrosive to PC parts.

And you'd be surprised how nice hot water is at certain times of the year. If you have air con, then hot water is a must as it would be a very chilly shower indeed.

I'd love to use an alternative power source but believe solar panels to be very expensive in Thailand and another problem is being on the power grid, in the US, when using solar, your meter runs backwards as you put energy back into the system, and then runs forward at those times you need to use the grid. I believe the Thai electric co (EGAT) does not allow this.

As for electricity costs, we use govt power so pay less than some, but to be honest, it is still quite high considering we dont' have ac and hot water (well, for the bungalows we don't, I do )

[mafaso]

I pay around 3.8 per unit. I run my AC 24/7 because I am home all day and I keep it around 22 degrees. I run my PC, a small fan, TV, satellite and hot water heater (only when showering). My bill is normally 2500 baht. Of course about 80% is the air con but to have it on 24/7 and enjoy it's coolness is worth it. I've tried to turn the AC off at night and use a fan but it is a HARD habit to break. The coolness is great but the de-humidifying aspect of the AC is the best.

[Jim Abbott]

This is why some rents are cheap b/c at the same time elec and water charges are high. I had a studio for 8500 but my elec came to 6000. This my cheap 8500 place becomes 14500. this is a reason why some of these threads with rent discussion are irrelevant because ut charges are not factored in.