Electricity Meter not working, who pays for replacement?

[davehowden]

Hi all,

The electricity meter on my 5 year old house has stopped working, who pays for a replacement, me or the PEA?

Thanks for your help.

Dave

[Crossy]

PEA will replace it for free unless it's stopped due to abuse.

Most of us would wait until the meter-reader notices. I pay the bill when it comes, I don't read my meter, how many people do?

[davehowden]

Too true.

He came yesterday and remarked on how low the bill was, so I can hardly pretend I have not noticed

[jonesthepost]

PEA will replace it for free unless it's stopped due to abuse.

Most of us would wait until the meter-reader notices. I pay the bill when it comes, I don't read my meter, how many people do?

When my meter stopped and the fault caused me having no power the P.E.A replaced it but as the fault was my side of the meter I had to pay for the placement

[Pib]

PEA will replace it for free unless it's stopped due to abuse.

Most of us would wait until the meter-reader notices. I pay the bill when it comes, I don't read my meter, how many people do?

When my meter stopped and the fault caused me having no power the P.E.A replaced it but as the fault was my side of the meter I had to pay for the placement

How did he know the fault for failure was on your side of the meter? And what kind of fault was it?...maybe a huge short that smoked wire and such on your side?

[jonesthepost]

PEA will replace it for free unless it's stopped due to abuse.

Most of us would wait until the meter-reader notices. I pay the bill when it comes, I don't read my meter, how many people do?

When my meter stopped and the fault caused me having no power the P.E.A replaced it but as the fault was my side of the meter I had to pay for the placement

How did he know the fault for failure was on your side of the meter? And what kind of fault was it?...maybe a huge short that smoked wire and such on your side?

The wire from the house that connected to the meter was burnt out

Edited May 25, 2016 by jonesthepost

[Pungdo]

Mine stopped working a year or 2 ago and I got no bill for 3 months, I then received a notice to say it was knackered and I was forced to pay for the replacement, the old one had been ripping me off for a couple of years prior to giving up the ghost I found out after the new one was installed.

They calculated what they thought was the unpaid power for the 3 months and I paid that, recently we received a letter from them telling me is still owed them 2,000 + baht, I just love being ripped off.

[SOTIRIOS]

...duhh...guess....

[jacko45k]

When mine burst into flames it was replaced without cost to me.

For about 3 weeks I had no meter and received an estimated bill based on previous consumption.

That was a cool 3 weeks indoors.

[chiang mai]

Directly related.

Ditto on water meters, if it's broken they bear the cost of replacement. BUT, you have to 176 baht to have an engineer come out to inspect it and if he finds it isn't broken, they keep your 176 baht, if it is you get it back.

But you might imagine that if your historic usage is say 6,000 litres a month, over many years and suddenly it jumps to 18,000 litres and you ask them to inspect and they find it is broken, that you might get a refund against 12,000 litres - not so, what's done is done and that was in the past, here's your new meter, pay all your bills to date and move on.

That's how it works.

[connda]

So the real issue is: In the case of failed utilities in a rental, who is legally, by Thai law, responsible for paying?

[chiang mai]

I am not in a rental, I own the property and in my case the answer is me. In the case of a rental I imagine the contract stipulates who is responsible for the cost of the utilities and I imagine that's the tenant. If the utilities have failed I imagine it is down to the tenant to prove the case and to challenge the utility company, the only alternative being to break the lease, do a runner and not pay.

[Pib]

So the real issue is: In the case of failed utilities in a rental, who is legally, by Thai law, responsible for paying?

It's whoever's name the electric/water account is in...either the landlord or the renter. Seems for many rentals the renter pays the landlord for utilities since the accounts are in the landlords name....but in other cases the landlord could require the renter to open the accounts in their names. The utilities companies hold accountable whoever's name is on the account.

Now the rental contract may have something about who pays what but that is purely between the landlord and the renter....the utility company could care less about what a rental contract says.

[johnatong]

Our meter died suddenly with a dramatic outpouring of smoke !

The electricity company replaced the meter within two hours of receiving a call from my wife.

No charge !

[joskeshake]

In Pattaya Soi Bonkoch where I live, my meter was also not working no more because the old cabels starting fire, first they disconnected the meter,then one week later they came to put new cables,and after approx 1 month they came to install a new meter, my landlord has to pay 4200 baht for the meter.

[cyberfarang]

The OP hasn`t mentioned what amperage his meter is? The domestic meters are 5/15A on the older homes and15A/45A. On the commercial tariff it`s the 3 phase 30A/100A

It goes like this, if the meter is genuinely faulty then the electric company will replace it free of charge, but if the OP has overloaded it, meaning used more amperage then the meter is designed to take then he will have to pay for a replacement. A tell tale sign that the meter has been over loaded if the wires going into the meter terminals are black and burnt.

We have a 15A/45A meter and I made a list of all the amps each main electrical appliance uses in our household so I can estimate what we can use without going over the 45A limit of our meter. We cannot use 2 air conditioners at the same time or our hot water heater and an air con at the same time, which is inconvenient but I don`t want to have to pay more upgrading to a 3 phase 30A/100A on the commercial tariff.

[Pib]

They have 30A/100 single phase service also...that's what I'm on and approx two-thirds of the houses in my upper scale Bangkok moobaan...the remaining one-third which are usually the larger homes are on 3 phase 30A/100A service.

[sometimewoodworker]

The OP hasn`t mentioned what amperage his meter is? The domestic meters are 5/15A on the older homes and15A/45A. On the commercial tariff it`s the 3 phase 30A/100A

It goes like this, if the meter is genuinely faulty then the electric company will replace it free of charge, but if the OP has overloaded it, meaning used more amperage then the meter is designed to take then he will have to pay for a replacement. A tell tale sign that the meter has been over loaded if the wires going into the meter terminals are black and burnt.

We have a 15A/45A meter and I made a list of all the amps each main electrical appliance uses in our household so I can estimate what we can use without going over the 45A limit of our meter. We cannot use 2 air conditioners at the same time or our hot water heater and an air con at the same time, which is inconvenient but I don`t want to have to pay more upgrading to a 3 phase 30A/100A on the commercial tariff.

As "Pib" said depending on your area there are thee single phase options

5/15, 15/45 & 30/100

Then you go on to three phase power.

The cost of the metre is a bit under 5,000 for the 15/45 and a bit under 13,000 for the 30/100. I don't know the cost for the 5/15

[davehowden]

The meter stopped "dead" on a reading of 9000 suggesting a mechanical fault in the meter.

Wife phoned the PEA at Ban Tawai.

Cannot report fault by phone, have to go into the office.

Go into PEA office and get the run around.

Wife tells them "I have reported the fault" and I am not going to sit around any longer, up to you.

5 days later no sign of anybody doing anything about the meter, but enjoying my super cooled house for the time being.