How does it work with private electricity meters? What's the system?

[robsamui]

I just rented a new house where the electricity is 6 baht a unit.

How does all this work? is it something as simple as the owner looking at his government-installed meter and telling me to pay him 6 baht (or 7 or 8 or 10) per unit?

How does this fit in with a friend of mine who rented a restaurant. The owner wanted to charge 7 baht for electricity. My friend wasn't happy and looked into having his own meter fitted.

How does this work? I mean, does the electricity company come along and install a private electricity supply to the restaurant on its own meter? Or do they simply add a meter somehow, onto the existing power line that feeds the restaurant?

(My friend gave up the idea of his own meter because he told me it was ridiculously expensive to have this done.)

My new owner told me that . . . "you are on a private electricity supply - private meter - not from the government." So is this simply his way of telling me that he's decided to charge me his own personal rate per unit - or has the power supply to the house been somehow added on to (or kind of spurred off from) the owner's own electric supply?

Anyone explain all this please - I'm confused!

[PoorSucker]

Likely the landlord has fitted his own transformator.

To get an own meter you have to install an own transformator.

[Rooo]

If it's running through a private transformer, the charge is a bit higher. We charge extra & that goes towards the maintenance.

[SamuiRes]

If you look at your meter, if it is from the PEA it will say so and a bill will be produced by them on a monthly basis at standard rates. If this is the case there is no good reason for the landlord charging a premium. If however the meter is not from the PEA it may be because the Landlord has installed his own transformer to control the supply within his estate and all the properties in his ownership run off it. We see this quite a lot and the extra charge per unit is added to cover distribution costs and maintenance. It does tend to be an arbitrary sum but 6 Baht/unit is not unusual. With a rented property I am not sure the PEA would install a meter for you without the permission of the landlord.

[notmyself]

Many landlords have an attractive rental price on their property and make up for it by charging excessive rates for electricity. 6 Baht would be at the lower end of the scale and I would consider it unusual. 9-11 Baht would be the norm with some 14-16 Baht. My monthly bill (government supply) is generally around 650 but I know others who live in a similar house and have the same kind of power draw such as fridge freezer, computers, fans etc. who are paying 2500 or more.

[khunPer]

Not unusual that the landlord charge more per electric unit, than when having your own meter; which you can have only if you have a HouseBook.

Having your own meter, you shall pay for meter/installation and leave a deposit – which will be returned some time after the meter has been taken down – the electric supplier, can easily be 10,000 baht or more.

The unit price (kWh) will be around 4 baht and up – the more power you use, the higher price; so poor people using less power pays less, and rich people that can afford to use lots of power, also pays more...

If the landlord has one meter for a number of rentals, and private sub-meters for each place, the owner may pay up around 5 baht a unit. Then it’s a negotiation what’s a fair price for renters, that do not pay for meter installation and a deposit, and are not paying maintenance (or transformer) – 6 or 7 baht may seem little high, but not at all outstanding.

A friend of mine had a restaurant here at rented land, but as he had no HouseBook, he could not have his own meter and shared one the neighbor. Often discussion about price and who should pay how much, as one already paid for meter and deposit...

Edited June 29, 2015 by khunPer

[Rooo]

Some landlords around with large Villas,charge their tenants or users on their private transformer Baht 23 & heard of another one that supplies through his transformer at Baht 55 per unit.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Rooo

[NoshowJones]

If it's running through a private transformer, the charge is a bit higher. We charge extra & that goes towards the maintenance.

If you can honestly say you are not making any extra profit from this, then that's fine.

But landlords are charging ie, maybe 7 or 8 Bt per unit over the 4 Bt I think, government

charge, and I think that is just pure greed.

[RoyLee]

Aside from the higher rate with a private meter, I think its more likely for them to be hooked up "wrong". Girlfriend just moved into a new place and the consumption units ridiculously over-stated. Paying about quadruple what she should .... rate and consumption each roughly doubled.

[notmyself]

Some landlords around with large Villas,charge their tenants or users on their private transformer Baht 23 & heard of another one that supplies through his transformer at Baht 55 per unit.

Quite some time back there was a fella or perhaps a lass who asked for help (on this forum) because he thought the aircon was playing up in his new rental place. Lot of very knowledgeable people post on TV sub forums so CM³ was discussed alongside many others. In the end it turned out he was paying 27 Baht a unit.

[notmyself]

If it's running through a private transformer, the charge is a bit higher. We charge extra & that goes towards the maintenance.

If you can honestly say you are not making any extra profit from this, then that's fine.

But landlords are charging ie, maybe 7 or 8 Bt per unit over the 4 Bt I think, government

charge, and I think that is just pure greed.

Price goes up the more you use but anything above 6.5 is guaranteed to generate [sic] a profit.

[ricklev]

I would prefer it if landlords would price their property appropriately and charge government rates form utilities. That's the law in almost every developed country. But. OK. Freedom of contract and all that. Let's just not pretend its purpose is for "maintenance".

[ricklev]

Regulation of rates for public utilities just makes sense to me.

[ThaidDown]

Not at all supporting 7 or more baht/KWh but charging 'government' rates would mean in a lot of instances the landlord would be subsidising the tenant.

The policy of PEA (and probably MEA) is one meter per chanote, this coupled with the sliding scale for electricity (the more you use the higher the unit rate) means that only one bill per property is given.

Dividing the cost by the total amount (including Ft and VAT) gives the amount per unit it costs the landlord. A figure in the region of 4.6/4.8 Baht/KWh is probable. If the landlord lives on site then their cost per unit is also more than it would have been without the tenants. A charge to tenants of 5 Baht/KWh would seem more than reasonable.

Note that this does not apply to a properly registered condo as chanotes are issued for individual units enabling a separate meter to be applied for, but could apply to apartment blocks owned by a single individual or company as well as properties where a few bungalows are added for rent.

[SamuiRes]

The other point to have in mind is that there is a difference in the tariff between Residential and Small Business. If you own your house/land through a company, or if your landlord does, then you or he will be paying the small business rate, not the standard residential rate so the starting point may be from a higher base.

[notmyself]

I would prefer it if landlords would price their property appropriately and charge government rates form utilities. That's the law in almost every developed country. But. OK. Freedom of contract and all that. Let's just not pretend its purpose is for "maintenance".

It is cheaper and much faster to install the apparatus yourself but the downside is that you are responsible for its upkeep and full replacement if necessary. Longevity of anything in Thailand is an issue including a transformer which is somewhat expensive. The landlord needs to recoup the investment back if the transformer fails because they cannot demand consumers (at that time) contribute toward it being replaced. I will however agree that there is a limit...

When I moved into where I live some 6 years ago there was a gas bottle which continued to work for months. Since then I have had to refill it quite a number of times and when I leave someone will no doubt also get free gas for a number of months.

In my view, a transformer and a bottle of gas are not the same thing.

[robsamui]

Thanks for all your replies fellas.

I've got a beer grasp of it all now.

R