Phuket Man Forced to Pay 16,800 Baht Water Bill

By Khaosod Eng.

PHUKET — Phuket province's waterworks agency has confirmed that a local resident will have to pay the entirety of his 16,800 baht monthly water bill despite a water pipe leak in his home.

Pornsak Saengsri, 30, told reporters yesterday that he usually pays 100 to 200 baht for each monthly bill, and was shocked to see a bill from May that said he owed the state 16,829.33 baht for water using 549,000 liters of water.

"It was so high that it shocked me," Pornsak told Matichon. He said he immediately called technicians from the Provincial Waterworks Authority to inspect his house, and they found that water pipes were leaking underneath the building.

Pornsak said officials also told him that he would have to pay the bill because the leaks occurred in his home.

Pisak Chollayuth, director of Phuket's Provincial Waterworks Authority, explained that under official regulations, homeowners are responsible for any leaks beyond the water meter installed by the authorities.

"It is the responsibility of homeowners to regularly maintain and fix water pipes in their own residence," Pisak told Matichon yesterday. "As for the May water bill, in the current time, the Waterworks Authority has no policy of giving discounts for water fees."

Read More: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1433575896

-- Khaosod English 2015-06-06

A weekly check of the meter may have brought the problem to light.

Really? Who in Phuket checks their water meter, weekly? And most of the meters are unreadable.

That's about 17,000 litres a day!!!

Didn't his astonishingly verdant garden and newly formed boating lake give him a clue that something might be amiss?

About half a million gallons lost below his home, and he did not notice !!!!!

Should have gone to specsavers.

A weekly check of the meter may have brought the problem to light.

I check my water meter at least every few days. One time had a faulty float valve and water in did not cut off when tank full. Cost me a few thousand baht before I shut off the valve and repaired. My tanks overflow into the street storm water drain so I would not notice.

He didn't notice the tropical fish swimming sewerage floating outside his windows?

Maybe not 549,000 litres (549 cubic metres) of water; more like 5,490 litres.

Maybe not 549,000 litres (549 cubic metres) of water; more like 5,490 litres.

Not with a bill of 16,800 Baht.

Sophon

a macro-split in the supply pipe at Mains pressure; between the meter and the house, as an example we have already experienced...

- in our case it lost a bit over 45 L per minute ( and that was indicated by a cloudy fan of mist - a big fan)

with the Mains OFF, the macro-split was invisible to the naked eye

If the quoted numbers are correct, 549 units (549,000 liters) for 16,829 baht, that's about 30 baht per unit. It's twice what I pay but not unreasonable for Phuket.

Cost me over 1,000 Baht for a small leak lasting just two days.

Sounds like the sort of sneaky revenge attack many Thais would get off on.

Yep same in every country that I have been in ,Anything wrong on your site of the meter and it is Your problem /renter/owner all same.

Maybe not 549,000 litres (549 cubic metres) of water; more like 5,490 litres.

5 m³ = 5 000 L

549 000 L = 549m³

30.66 TBH per m³ x 549 m³ = 16829.33 TBH

Really? Who in Phuket checks their water meter, weekly? And most of the meters are unreadable.

Half a million tonnes of water? Someone would notice this. Don't report it, not my problem. Civic irresponsibility. The house owner must have known but did nothing because he thought it was not his problem.

Maybe not 549,000 litres (549 cubic metres) of water; more like 5,490 litres.

Not with a bill of 16,800 Baht.

Sophon

You're right.

The numbers don't jive. At Bt8.50/cu m, Bt16,800 would imply about 1,976 cu m of water. At Bt14.45/unit it would be about 1,163 cu m. Maybe there was a meter change, without resetting the numbers?

Maybe not 549,000 litres (549 cubic metres) of water; more like 5,490 litres.

I can fill my swimming pool for 700 baht. 16000 baht isn't a swimming pool, it's a lake

His house should have sunk.

Really? Who in Phuket checks their water meter, weekly? And most of the meters are unreadable.

Half a million tonnes of water? Someone would notice this. Don't report it, not my problem. Civic irresponsibility. The house owner must have known but did nothing because he thought it was not his problem.

Half a million tonnes of water? Sorry, but how many beers have you had today? But yes, everybody around would have known if it had been 500'000'000 litres..

Just for illustration, an Olympic swimming pool holds 2,500,000 liters, roughly four times as much as the reported leak.

I never install water supply pipes on free ground. I would have all the pipes attached to the structure, floor or wall.

Soil would suffer consolidation or erosion and sink causing the pipes to bend and perhaps break or leaking at the joints.

Maybe the guy was too busy watching Titanic re runs and did not look out the window!

Had a bill of 12,000 bht before.

Lucky we called out water company and told them to check their meter as we usually only used 3-400 bht per month.

They checked the meter and told the company. Couple of hours later they called up saying the meter was faulty but they wanted us to still pay 8,000 bht!!

Wife refused and told them to stuff it, only after she started shouting at people in the main office was the bill reduced to 300 bht!!

Even when they are wrong they will still try too sting you for money!!

Why is this in the news?

Every member of a water service is responsible for the plumbing once it leaves the main water service and meter...

One should notice a drop in water pressure if there is a sever leak within ones premise...

The same thing as if you are watering your garden in the evening and forget...and the water stays on all night...

What's the problem here?

Would someone have preferred the headline: "Phuket Water Authority is forced to eat 16K bath water bill because man claims he had a lead under his house"

Let's keep it real people...

549.000 litres

It is a little more than 18.000 litres a day

So 750 litres per hour, 12.5 litres per minute.

12.5 litres is a bucket so the leak was equivalent of 43.920 buckets

How on earth this poor man could have sponged that? That why he pretended not to know!

About half a million gallons lost below his home, and he did not notice !!!!!

Should have gone to specsavers.

happened to us many times on our 60 rai property. We did not notice.

Really? Who in Phuket checks their water meter, weekly? And most of the meters are unreadable.

I check my meter in Hua Hin weekly, I also check my storage tanks for leaks.If your meter is unreadable then tell the water authority to change it. If they are unreadable how do you get your bill calculated?

I find it difficult to believe that employees of the water company forced the man to pay. Crap headline again? Reprint it to '.....obliged to pay......'.

I check my meter each morning as part of my routine and record it in a monthly water diary. Seeing everyday the amount of water that passes through your meter can give warning of leaks and excessive usage.

As with electricity, the more water that you consume, the more you are charged per c.m. Water at my house under Pranburi supply is 5 times more per cubic metre than I pay for another house under Muang Hua Hin.

 

Really? Who in Phuket checks their water meter, weekly? And most of the meters are unreadable.

I check my meter in Hua Hin weekly, I also check my storage tanks for leaks.If your meter is unreadable then tell the water authority to change it. If they are unreadable how do you get your bill calculated?

 

Pedantic. I never said MINE was unreadable. The plastic covers on them get burned by the sun. SOME are unreadable after a few years.