Double digit price hike for Electricity (Nov 16, 2015)

[KhunBENQ]

When working myself through some confusion in another thread about the current fuel surcharge on electricity:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/871764-negative-electricity-ft-fuel-tax-from-pea/

I "accidentally" stumbled upon the fact that the household electricity tariff has been risen from Nov 16 on.

The new prices are so far in Thai language only on the MEA site:

http://www.mea.or.th/profile/index.php?l=th&tid=3&mid=111&pid=109

On the bottom of the site there is also a link to a PDF with these new rates valid from Nov 16, 2015 on.

On one example bill I saw that the rate hike makes for about 15% for an average household consumption.

The unit price before tax on the highest scale (more than 400 units) rises by about 12%.

What surprises me: although I browse through the news and the forum regularly I have missed the news.

Does someone have a source in English when this hike has been announced?

Edited November 19, 2015 by CharlieH
Title edited.

[lopburi3]

Amazing - and this is the basic rate - not including the extra fuel tax adjustment (which is likely to be high with the low water levels).

Over 400 units per month basic rate 4.4217 Baht.

Can only imagine what apartment/condo renters will be charged.

[KhunBENQ]

For November and December for average consumption (up to about 400 units/1680 Baht) the hike is compensated by a lowering of the Ft.

But to me this sounds to me like a "holiday present" and that the real hike will be visible in January.

Edited November 19, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[Cheesekraft]

I already pay 3000 baht for electricity and 450 baht for water not looking forward to the hikes...

[pieeyed]

6 months ago my electric bill was the highest that I have ever seen in 10 years of living in the same condo. Lately the electric bill has been more than 3000 baht less than 6 months ago. People are to lazy to read the meter every month. They guess at the bill and when you complain someone checks.

[Nomyai]

For the green fruitcakes. This is great -higher prices means less need for OIL based products.

[alant]

For the green fruitcakes. This is great -higher prices means less need for OIL based products.

?

[menzies233]

6 months ago my electric bill was the highest that I have ever seen in 10 years of living in the same condo. Lately the electric bill has been more than 3000 baht less than 6 months ago. People are to lazy to read the meter every month. They guess at the bill and when you complain someone checks.

They certainly do NOT guess the bill in Chiang Mai - The guy comes around with a scanner, scans the meter, prints the bill from a handheld device and then places it in the plastic bill holder at our house.

[Jeffrey346]

My bill dated 17 Nov shows an increase to 4.19

[Pib]

6 months ago my electric bill was the highest that I have ever seen in 10 years of living in the same condo. Lately the electric bill has been more than 3000 baht less than 6 months ago. People are to lazy to read the meter every month. They guess at the bill and when you complain someone checks.

6 months ago was the hottest, most humid time of the year....A/C works harder & runs longer...people use them more...so your electric usage went up which means your bill went up. Just do a search in ThaiVisa and you see these type of posts starting around Mar-Apr of each year.

And starting around last month it started to cool off....we are getting into the cooler time of year....A/C works less & runs less....people use them less...so your electric usage goes down which means your bill goes down.

Summary: it's just a time of year thing kinda like how summer is hotter than winter.

[ThaidDown]

Sorry, but I do not see any 'price hike'.

Although the basic rates have increased the Ft charge has decreased.

Taking one of my bills as an example the Ft charge for October was 0.4638 Baht/unit whereas for November it is -0.0323 Baht/unit (yes, minus).

For October my average rate/unit was 4.5459/unit and for November 4.5364 baht/unit using slightly more units. Therefore Novembers overall rate has actually decreased slightly.

[lopburi3]

For the green fruitcakes. This is great -higher prices means less need for OIL based products.

What? The price must increase because domestic Natural Gas is running out and no longer enough to provide electric generation so imported LNG is being required and that costs more money. The estimate two years ago was that basic price might reach 5 baht per unit this year so appears we are a bit better off than was expected. It is still fossil fuel being used.

[longball53098]

I just did an average of my per unit(kwh) average from this month back 3 years and the average per unit(kwh) cost including FT and VAT calculates to 4.17 per unit. No significant increases that I see here on PEA in Rayong

[lopburi3]

As stated the basic monthly per unit rate before ft for more than 400 units per month will change from 3.9361 to 4.4217. Believe most of us would consider that a substantial increase. And if that was our deposit interest rate choice would quickly move our money.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Sorry, but I do not see any 'price hike'.

Although the basic rates have increased the Ft charge has decreased.

Taking one of my bills as an example the Ft charge for October was 0.4638 Baht/unit whereas for November it is -0.0323 Baht/unit (yes, minus).

For October my average rate/unit was 4.5459/unit and for November 4.5364 baht/unit using slightly more units. Therefore Novembers overall rate has actually decreased slightly.

+1

[cnx355]

For November and December for average consumption (up to about 400 units/1680 Baht) the hike is compensated by a lowering of the Ft.

But to me this sounds to me like a "holiday present" and that the real hike will be visible in January.

Thanks ! Now I know why I had a credit for the fuel tax ( FT ) this month.

[jacko45k]

I already pay 3000 baht for electricity and 450 baht for water not looking forward to the hikes...

Similar....I keep trying to trim back my electricity consumption but won't get to see the benefit!

Edited November 20, 2015 by jacko45k

[Pib]

From looking at the MEA website (MEA supplies electricity for the Bangkok area) it sure does look like they are jacking up rates around 12-15% on the basic rates. When looking at their site they still had the old rates for Jun 12 forward on their English language side but on their Thai language side they had the new rates for Nov 15 forward. I I think the new rates may specifically be for 16 Nov forward instead of starting on 1 Nov.

I tried using MEA's online electric bill calculator where you select your service type/tariff schedule (mine is Residential 1.2...some of you may be Residential 1.1 which is a very, very similar rate), enter your KWH usage, and enter the current Ft rate. Its result given always use to match to the exact stang what my actual electric bill showed...but not now...it seems to miscalculate the Ft total charge by a hundred fold lower....example: a Ft total charge of 851 baht which mine was this month would instead show only 8.51 baht....I rechecked my entries two times to make sure I hadn't made a decimal point entry error...yeap, their calculator seems to be mess-up now or I'm not awake enough this morning to be using their online calculator.

Anyway, I captured to PDF files their Jun 12 forward rate schedule and now the new and improved Nov 15 forward rate schedule...attached below.

By the way, my latest bill which closed out 13 Nov still use the old basic rates but uses the most current Ft rate. When I calculate my total charge per KWH hour is which including all charges (Ft, tax, just everything), my total charge per KWH last month (bill ending 13 Oct) was Bt4.64/KWH...for this month's bill ending 13 Nov it was Bt4.60/KWH. Basically the same...the slight difference only caused by me using a little less electricity this month in the above 400KWH range which carries a little higher rate than below 400KWH. Yeap, looks like the Dec bill is where most people will see the rate increase.

And for folks who don't get billed directly by the electric company/have the service in their name and instead get bill by your landlord or association, gosh knows what they may raise their rates to to offset the MEA/PEA rate rise.

As the OP said, funny we haven't seen anything about this in the major news outlets on TV or newspaper...or maybe I just missed it all. Wonder how the govt will explain this cost of living increase--then again, maybe they are hoping no one notices. For most folks it's probably going to be their Dec bill that shows the new and improve price of electricity.

Jun 12 Foward Rates

MEA Rates Jun 12.pdf

Nov 15 Foward Rates

MEA Rates Nov 15.pdf

[AlQaholic]

I get my Electricity from a private company, and they do not have any changes in pricing, strange the MEA sees it necessary to increase the prices.

[kiwikeith]

Power prices here are rediculous , my bill was 4700 when we had people staying and 3 air units running.

Now I run one air at night and still my bill was 2700.

For the average thai they would not be able to run air just a fan and a light.

The power company in Hua Hin only takes cash over the counter you should see the piles of it on the counter if you go there to pay your bill.

[rickb]

I have two electric bills from 18 Nov, one for my house and one for my apartment building. Both bills had the Baht/kWhr rate from last month to this month increase by ~12.5%. However, as stated by others, the Ft rate has gone from 0.4638 last month to -0.0323 this month. Thus, the resulting total charge, including service, Ft and VAT shows a slight decrease this month for the total Baht/kWhr. It will be interesting to watch how the PEA manipulates the Ft rates in the future.

[lopburi3]

It would appear they will be using the new price of LNG so will only be a slow rise if that cost remains stable. More of an adjustment of basic cost rather than the big increase in customer bill it first appears.

As for electric cost in Thailand it is not that high - but many of us are from countries with very cheap electric.

[KhunBENQ]

As already written: there IS a significant price hike in the basic rates.

See post #18 and compare the screenshots in this post:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/871764-negative-electricity-ft-fuel-tax-from-pea/#entry10096316

Old prices in English and new prices in Thai.

E.g. on the top scale from 3.9361 to 4.4217.

For me thats ~12%.

This reduction of the Ft is an extraordinary measure for November and December out of the usual 4 month cycle.

Guess why

I bet that it will come back to usual values with the beginning of the year.

Slowly boiled frog

Edited November 20, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[BIACK]

I live 20 km from Nakhon Phanom, eletrtik run from 150v to 280v, 2 ac broken

1 refrigerator, and the PEA do nothing. I better bay and old engine, and make my own electric. Thailand is still in the 1800 hundred.

[Tywais]

For the green fruitcakes. This is great -higher prices means less need for OIL based products.

Oil has very little contribution to electricity production in Thailand.

[samran]

By the way, the 'ft' isn't a tax. It is simply a mechanism to allow the pass through for changes in variable market linked fuel prices.

[Tywais]

By the way, the 'ft' isn't a tax. It is simply a mechanism to allow the pass through for changes in variable market linked fuel prices.

It is, though it is referred to as a tariff, still a type of tax.

"Tariff” is defined as a form of duty or tax levied on goods for protective purposes and revenue purposes when they are transported from one customs area to another while custom duties are the collected income from tariff taxes.

Read more: Difference Between Duty and Tariff | Difference Between | Duty vs Tariff http://www.differencebetween.net/business/finance-business-2/difference-between-duty-and-tariff/#ixzz3s0Vsmn91

A tariff is a tax on imports or exports (an international trade tariff).

[samran]

By the way, the 'ft' isn't a tax. It is simply a mechanism to allow the pass through for changes in variable market linked fuel prices.

It is, though it is referred to as a tariff, still a type of tax.

"Tariff is defined as a form of duty or tax levied on goods for protective purposes and revenue purposes when they are transported from one customs area to another while custom duties are the collected income from tariff taxes.

Read more: Difference Between Duty and Tariff | Difference Between | Duty vs Tariff http://www.differencebetween.net/business/finance-business-2/difference-between-duty-and-tariff/#ixzz3s0Vsmn91

A tariff is a tax on imports or exports (an international trade tariff).

It is also economist speak for a price. Nothing more. Check out the presentation on page 10. By my old boss no less...

http://www.eria.org/events/Power%20Tariff%20Structure%20in%20Thailand.pdf

[Pib]

Tariff=money out of your pocket.

[TheCruncher]

Sorry, but I do not see any 'price hike'.

Although the basic rates have increased the Ft charge has decreased.

Taking one of my bills as an example the Ft charge for October was 0.4638 Baht/unit whereas for November it is -0.0323 Baht/unit (yes, minus).

For October my average rate/unit was 4.5459/unit and for November 4.5364 baht/unit using slightly more units. Therefore Novembers overall rate has actually decreased slightly.

+1

I'm sure you both have noticed that the OP says. Starting from 16 November ?