500 baht/month water utility bill in a condo..

[Cheesekraft]

My condo uses government rate electricity; this is coming in at only about 3800/month, but they are using hand written water bills. My rate is apparently 25 baht/unit for the water, and the bill is 475 baht. When asking about this they said they use well water not government water and charge 25 baht per unit. They said the 475 was not correct and I had to pay 500 baht. I feel like this is ... wrong... is there anything I Can do about it?

[h90]

that is expensive.....

[KhunBENQ]

25 Baht for a unit of well water? Crazy ripoff.

20 (!) cubic meters (?) for a single person (?).

Do you shower for an hour per day?

Fill a pool?

You are ripped off/cheated by all means.

electricity; this is coming in at only about 3800/month

Government rate and "only" 3800?

Single person? How many aircons? Running 24/7 or what?

(I am just asking, I don't want to exclude that 3800 is possible)

Edited June 30, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[Cheesekraft]

I am aware I am being cheated/ripped off, but what can I do about it? I am not the owner of the condo; and I do not fill pools with my shower water that would be the requirement of this sort of bill expense.

[vogie]

How often do you water your garden?

[KhunBENQ]

I am not the owner of the condo

At least one good news

[Cheesekraft]

there is no garden, I literally just use water to take showers and wash dishes. my last condo my bills would be in the 100-150 range.

[Sophon]

Have you checked that you don't have a toilet or tap that is running/dripping?

Sophon

[Cheesekraft]

no obvious running/leaking/dripping but I am not a plumbing expert; however there is no water where there should not be. All other rooms have similar bills as well; some over 750b

[bartender100]

Check toilet system is not over flowing down the waste pipe, lift up the tank lid and look, happened to me.

Electric seems high but you never said condo size and what your running

[Gecko123]

Check with your neighbors to see what they are paying.

[Beetlejuice]

Wow, 3800 baht per month electric bill. Are you running appliances on an industrial scale?

We have the government water supply and our water bills on average are around 80 to 120 baht per month. That includes shower water, water for washing the dishes, washing machine, watering the garden and cleaning out the goldfish tanks a couple of times a month. We also receive a hand written bill. A nice little old lady turns up at our gate once a month and presents the bill, which we pay on the spot.

Sorry, 500 baht, no way. As some posters have already mentioned, it could be a case of a leak or overflow somewhere. Otherwise, I suggest you have a word with your landlord or the juristic management agents.

[ryanhull]

I have a fairly big garden with sprinklers, plus I large builder bucket which is filled twice daily for the dogs and showers/washing blah blah... don't think our bill has ever been over 300 bhat and we really do use a lot of water.

Electric is hard to say but if your being ripped off on water seems your being ripped on your electric, we have two air cons running all night, various fans/screens/computers/tvs/lamps/outdoor lights etc and our electric bill is never over 3000bhat.

In a condo leaving your tap on 24/7 plus aircon on 24/7 that might bring bills like that but even that I doubt it,

Your being ripped on both I think and its not on, have words with your landlord.

Cheers

[bkkgooner]

Wow, 3800 baht per month electric bill. Are you running appliances on an industrial scale?

We have the government water supply and our water bills on average are around 80 to 120 baht per month. That includes shower water, water for washing the dishes, washing machine, watering the garden and cleaning out the goldfish tanks a couple of times a month. We also receive a hand written bill. A nice little old lady turns up at our gate once a month and presents the bill, which we pay on the spot.

Sorry, 500 baht, no way. As some posters have already mentioned, it could be a case of a leak or overflow somewhere. Otherwise, I suggest you have a word with your landlord or the juristic management agents.

In fairness you would be surprised what a fridge, hot plate, computer and old air-con can use up in a month

I haven't seen an electricity bill under 3k in a long long time

Water bill is generally around 250 baht mark that's with five people showering twice a day, dishes being washed and a laundry machine. You should get your place checked out for leaks we had one nasty one once and our water bill came in at 970 baht one month

[MaeJoMTB]

Wow, 3800 baht per month electric bill. Are you running appliances on an industrial scale?

We have the government water supply and our water bills on average are around 80 to 120 baht per month. That includes shower water, water for washing the dishes, washing machine, watering the garden and cleaning out the goldfish tanks a couple of times a month. We also receive a hand written bill. A nice little old lady turns up at our gate once a month and presents the bill, which we pay on the spot.

Sorry, 500 baht, no way. As some posters have already mentioned, it could be a case of a leak or overflow somewhere. Otherwise, I suggest you have a word with your landlord or the juristic management agents.

BJ if you are getting a hand written bill you ain't on government water.

Local moobaan well is more like it.

Government water has a similar scanned and printed bill to electric.

[CharlieH]

Wow, 3800 baht per month electric bill. Are you running appliances on an industrial scale?

We have the government water supply and our water bills on average are around 80 to 120 baht per month. That includes shower water, water for washing the dishes, washing machine, watering the garden and cleaning out the goldfish tanks a couple of times a month. We also receive a hand written bill. A nice little old lady turns up at our gate once a month and presents the bill, which we pay on the spot.

Sorry, 500 baht, no way. As some posters have already mentioned, it could be a case of a leak or overflow somewhere. Otherwise, I suggest you have a word with your landlord or the juristic management agents.

BJ if you are getting a hand written bill you ain't on government water.

Local moobaan well is more like it.

Government water has a similar scanned and printed bill to electric.

May be true for certain cities or some locations, mine too is hand-written into a pre-printed carbon copy pad, we get the top copy.

Its hand written when he reads the water meter, then passes it straight to us with readings and total due, average 200 - 250 baht

[topt]

The OP says he is getting hand written bills but based on what - is there a meter he can check for the readings? If not they could charge him whatever they want irrespective of his usage. If a meter then that should be the start point. If no meter suggest moving........

[Johnniey]

I have a fairly big garden with sprinklers, plus I large builder bucket which is filled twice daily for the dogs and showers/washing blah blah... don't think our bill has ever been over 300 bhat and we really do use a lot of water.

Electric is hard to say but if your being ripped off on water seems your being ripped on your electric, we have two air cons running all night, various fans/screens/computers/tvs/lamps/outdoor lights etc and our electric bill is never over 3000bhat.

In a condo leaving your tap on 24/7 plus aircon on 24/7 that might bring bills like that but even that I doubt it,

Your being ripped on both I think and its not on, have words with your landlord.

Cheers

You must be in the country side using lake water or something.

My water bill is always over 2000 baht but I have a garden and kids.

[Johnniey]

Move or accept it.

[tx22cb]

Electricity - 3800 Bht/m is not unreasonable.

Water - 20 units (m3) is way too much. Ask the condo office staff to show you where your unit's water meter is, and see if it runs when you don't turn on any tap. If there are no leaks, then the meter's probably faulty and should be replaced.

I presume your condo is not in Bangkok?

[Beetlejuice]

Wow, 3800 baht per month electric bill. Are you running appliances on an industrial scale?

We have the government water supply and our water bills on average are around 80 to 120 baht per month. That includes shower water, water for washing the dishes, washing machine, watering the garden and cleaning out the goldfish tanks a couple of times a month. We also receive a hand written bill. A nice little old lady turns up at our gate once a month and presents the bill, which we pay on the spot.

Sorry, 500 baht, no way. As some posters have already mentioned, it could be a case of a leak or overflow somewhere. Otherwise, I suggest you have a word with your landlord or the juristic management agents.

BJ if you are getting a hand written bill you ain't on government water.

Local moobaan well is more like it.

Government water has a similar scanned and printed bill to electric.

My error, you are right, we are on the local water here. I won`t say that all our water is passed by the management.

[pomchop]

I have over one rai yard in Chiang Rai and water all kinds of plants everyday along with usual household use. I get a handwritten bill delivered by hand once a month. My water bill has never been over 80 baht.

Lucky I live Chiang Rai I guess.

[Beetlejuice]

Wow, 3800 baht per month electric bill. Are you running appliances on an industrial scale?

We have the government water supply and our water bills on average are around 80 to 120 baht per month. That includes shower water, water for washing the dishes, washing machine, watering the garden and cleaning out the goldfish tanks a couple of times a month. We also receive a hand written bill. A nice little old lady turns up at our gate once a month and presents the bill, which we pay on the spot.

Sorry, 500 baht, no way. As some posters have already mentioned, it could be a case of a leak or overflow somewhere. Otherwise, I suggest you have a word with your landlord or the juristic management agents.

In fairness you would be surprised what a fridge, hot plate, computer and old air-con can use up in a month

I haven't seen an electricity bill under 3k in a long long time

Water bill is generally around 250 baht mark that's with five people showering twice a day, dishes being washed and a laundry machine. You should get your place checked out for leaks we had one nasty one once and our water bill came in at 970 baht one month

Our electric bills are on average 1200 baht per month. We use most of what you mentioned except we have several fans running 24 hours per day but don`t use air con.

Yes, I agree that the good old air con can whack up the bills, but still, 3800 baht sounds excessive, unless the OP has large BTU air con systems running throughout the days and nights.

[Anthony5]

I have a fairly big garden with sprinklers, plus I large builder bucket which is filled twice daily for the dogs and showers/washing blah blah... don't think our bill has ever been over 300 bhat and we really do use a lot of water.

Electric is hard to say but if your being ripped off on water seems your being ripped on your electric, we have two air cons running all night, various fans/screens/computers/tvs/lamps/outdoor lights etc and our electric bill is never over 3000bhat.

In a condo leaving your tap on 24/7 plus aircon on 24/7 that might bring bills like that but even that I doubt it,

Your being ripped on both I think and its not on, have words with your landlord.

Cheers

You must be in the country side using lake water or something.

My water bill is always over 2000 baht but I have a garden and kids.

Just asking, but is your garden 25 Rai?

[ryanhull]

Just asking, but is your garden 25 Rai?

No.

[Anthony5]

Just asking, but is your garden 25 Rai?

No.

I was asking that question to Johnniey, who claims to have a monthly water bill of 2000 Baht

[NancyL]

The electric bill really doesn't seem high. It's been very warm lately. And the unit rate for the water is what seems high, at 25 baht/unit for well water. What is the gov't rate for water in your area? Your condo should be charging less for well water. I believe ours is charging something like 14 baht/unit.

For everyone who is quoting their total bill, you should look both at your unit cost and how many units you're using.

For a time we lived in a condo that was totally on city water and the rates were crazy high -- like the OPs. The unit rate was about 25 baht/unit, but that is one reason may condos have a well, so they can offer lower water rates to their residents. Something about how the city's rates increase as a customers usage increase, so big customers like a condo building put in their own wells.

[KittenKong]

The per-unit charge isnt really the problem. The problem is the large number of units that he is supposed to have used.

In my condo I pay 35B/unit for city water but I only use 2 or 3 units per month, for showers, washing machine, toilet, etc. so my total bill comes to around 70-105B.

Based on the unit price of 25B that the OP mentions he must be using 20 units per month, which seems very high. So I suspect that there may be a leak or some other excessive use.

3800B for electricity is not very unusual especially if you have an old air-conditioner. My bill went from around 3500-4500B/month to around 1200-1800B/month when I replaced my air-con unit with a new inverter model.

[mogandave]

We paid about baht 14 per m^3 last month for water and about baht 4.3 per kWh for electric

[DirtyDan]

First thing is determine how they're calculating 20 units of water - why 20 and not 15 or 45 - they have to be getting that number from a meter or gauge somewhere? Check it!

1) turn of all your taps in the house and see if it the gauge's/meter's numbers are still moving? Leak.

2) turn off all your taps and if the gauge is not moving, then it's time to start watching your monthly meter reading a little more closely.

20m3 is the size of the smaller tanker trucks you'd see hauling petrol down the highway (125Bbls) ... NO WAY you're using that much water unless there is a massive leak somewhere in the building between the meter and your faucets - but you'd have a squishy garden and the foundation would be washing away.

Edited July 1, 2015 by DirtyDan