Poor Chonburi woman gets 92,000 baht electric bill for one month

[webfact]

Poor Chonburi woman gets 92,000 baht electric bill for one month

 

Picture: Thairath

 

CHONBURI: -- A poor Chonburi woman has gone to the Thai press to complain after she received an electricity bill for 92,000 baht for just one month.

 

Pranorm Insatyaphong, 55, only has a TV, fridge and fan using the electric at her modest home. Now she has been cut off for three months and is forced to light candles, reports Thairath.

 

Some days Pranorm, who is a dealer in second hand goods, is forced to go and stay with her children.

 

The bill came in August of last year and with other bills this has now ballooned to 107,000 baht. She said that she complained to the Bang Saen electrical division who said there had been some mistake reading the meter.

 

But they only reduced her charges to 70,000 baht and said she could pay it off at 5,000 baht a month.

 

"It is ridiculous," said Pranorm. "Before all this began my bills were about 100 baht to 350 baht a month".

 

Thai Rath are now on her case. They reported yesterday that they had contacted the Bang Saen office and the chief there had said there is clearly some mistake. He promised to look into the matter.

 

Source: Thairath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-01-26

[Thaiwrath]

45 minutes ago, webfact said:

He promised to look into the matter.

Better he looks into the meter !

[aguy30]

Obviously there is little intelligent working in the Bang Saen office.

[jollyhangmon]

20 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

Better he looks into the meter !

Looks like PEA employs ex-taxi drivers as they're sure 'professionals' meter-wise 

 

Landlady got a  bill over  9 1/2 grand last August instead of the usual 3k +/- that time of year (3 aircons all together). A reading mistake, next  2 1/2 month had been 'free' then.

I wasn't here at that time but told her not to accept screw-ups like this again as you're getting charged more per unit (kW) the higher the bill gets ... 

 

[tagalong]

How can anyone cut their power bill when it is obvious from past bills IT IS WRONG....Good Lord! The THAI,  "I don't care attitude" coming into play.....

Edited January 26, 2017 by tagalong

[RayD]

The guy who built my house warned me that the meters were only rated at 15 amps. Drawing that continously for 30 days comes to about 9,000 baht. One would hope the electricity company would understand they are incapable of supplying 90,000 bahts worth of electricity a month to an ordinary house? 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

Instead of cutting off her supply, anyone with even an ounce (sorry..gram) of common sense in the Electricity office would realise that a big mistake had been made.  Did they send out someone to inspect and test her meter and also perhaps take a look at her home to establish what appliances she was using to see if such a bill was even possible?  

 

No, of course not, as it is far easier for them to just cut off her supply until they are forced to sort it out properly.

 

It reminds me of the time two years ago when, in common with my neighbours, having received no water supply at all for 5 months which would normally cost me around 60 bahts per month, I was not inclined to do a trip of 34 km just to pay a "standard charge" of 25 baht per month for no service. particularly as I was paying 1600 per month for an alternative supply from a private contractor.  

 

The irony was that they sent a guy to take away my meter to stop me receiving water which they were not supplying.

 

In the end, of course, I had to pay the bills for each month's standard charge plus a fee for them to reconnect the meter.  You cannot win against a monopoly !

[bangon04]

" who said there had been some mistake reading the meter. "

 

they are now subcontracting the meter reading to TAT staff

[joepattaya1961]

A Thai admitting a mistake......that is soooo not done!!

In the end the woman will get the blame and the bill will be waived showing the good will of the PEA. 

 

[newatthis]

13 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Instead of cutting off her supply, anyone with even an ounce (sorry..gram) of common sense in the Electricity office would realise that a big mistake had been made.  Did they send out someone to inspect and test her meter and also perhaps take a look at her home to establish what appliances she was using to see if such a bill was even possible?  

 

No, of course not, as it is far easier for them to just cut off her supply until they are forced to sort it out properly.

 

It reminds me of the time two years ago when, in common with my neighbours, having received no water supply at all for 5 months which would normally cost me around 60 bahts per month, I was not inclined to do a trip of 34 km just to pay a "standard charge" of 25 baht per month for no service. particularly as I was paying 1600 per month for an alternative supply from a private contractor.  

 

The irony was that they sent a guy to take away my meter to stop me receiving water which they were not supplying.

 

In the end, of course, I had to pay the bills for each month's standard charge plus a fee for them to reconnect the meter.  You cannot win against a monopoly !

I remember when the 2011 flood came through, my wife and I had to vacate our home on 5th Oct and we returned 5th Dec. We unplugged everything, and turned the power off at the mains board. We got a bill for 500+baht for October and 300+baht for November. The water was over 2 and a 1/2 metres high and I can't imagine how they even read the meter. No amount of discussion was going to change anything.

[retell]

how many kw/h do you need to use 24/7 , ill bet its more than the cables can handle or the meter 

i ran calculations at my own house , if i turn on everything in the house for a month the bill would be around 12000

thats alot of lights , fridges freezers,, hot water boilers, icecream machines tv pc,s etc etc,

[retell]

15 hours ago, RayD said:

The guy who built my house warned me that the meters were only rated at 15 amps. Drawing that continously for 30 days comes to about 9,000 baht. One would hope the electricity company would understand they are incapable of supplying 90,000 bahts worth of electricity a month to an ordinary house? 

oh but you can over draw, got a 15vamp connection myself wich should limit at around 3600 watt ,, so it should not be possible to use 2 hot water showers @3500 each but it can be done 

[mikebell]

The bonkers electricity office should tear up the bill and compensate her for her suffering.  If, as reported yesterday, you can sue a local authority when a branch falls on your head, surely, even a monopoly can be sued?

[Redline]

22 hours ago, RayD said:

The guy who built my house warned me that the meters were only rated at 15 amps. Drawing that continously for 30 days comes to about 9,000 baht. One would hope the electricity company would understand they are incapable of supplying 90,000 bahts worth of electricity a month to an ordinary house? 

No one would contact the chief engineer to find that out.  That would make them look bad. 

[ricktak]

Something I noticed when an electrician was working on our house, when he disconnected the neutral line from the meter, the meter started to turn extremely quick, causing the usage number to go up, why is that?

[Reigntax]

On Friday, January 27, 2017 at 11:26 AM, joepattaya1961 said:

A Thai admitting a mistake......that is soooo not done!!

In the end the woman will get the blame and the bill will be waived showing the good will of the PEA. 

 

 

Admitting a mistake by someone else though unfortunately.