Electric bill

[Katipo]

16 hours ago, possum1931 said:

The answer is simple, when renting, the first thing you ask is how much per unit for electricity, it should be around 4 Bt, if you get hit with 7 or 8 Bt, use your middle finger then go elsewhere, as you will be getting cheated.

Normally I would agree, as I have stayed in condos/houses with state meters. I moved into a very nice apartment less than half the price of my last house (which was far too big for just one person) knowing the electricity would be 7b. My saving per month are still over 10k, so it's a non issue. My issue is that my electricity seems too cheap. 400b is just ridiculous. Not that I'm complaining, it just can't be right. it's a new place, with 2 brand new aircon units, about 50sqm interior space. Even if running the aircon for 8 hours 20 days a month it should be much more than that.

[farang1979]

Why does it make sense? ...maybe I'm missing something. If your rate now is about half of what you were paying before and your bill is 570 Bt...then at your old rate (which was double) then you would be paying 1,140Bt.....not 2000.

Read the post again.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[farang1979]

Could it also be a dodgy meter? I pay 7 baht per unit. I have hot water, fridge, fans, and aircon. I do travel quite frequently for work and pleasure, but am at home about 20 nights a month, with the aircon on from about 11pm until 7am (8 hours) each night. My electricity bill has been in the range of 400 baht for each of the lat 3 months I have been there. Never, in all my years in Thailand, has it been this low.

Have you always got your electricity bill from the government or the condo owners? I think from speaking to other people, the consensus seems to be there seems to be a marked difference in electricity cost from the method in which you receive the bill. Buildings charging low rent charge about 8฿ per unit so that is double the government rate of 4฿ per unit. And as alluded to in other posts, lower rent buildings sometimes, though not always, will be older buildings that the owners are running into the ground and therefore will run up huge bills. I think a lot of people need to find out what the rate of electricity is and to whom the bill is paid. Rather than if they have wifi or not. I know I worked out I stayed at my last condo, which must've been 10-15 years old, and overpaid 27,000 baht over 18 months. The condo, from what I could tell, never had any maintenance on it. The washing machines got changed before I left after breaking down countless times. The bathroom had mouldy roof tiles and there were occasionally cockroaches! The owner was making a massive profit every month and there were 800+ rooms.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[farang1979]

The meter's been wired.

If it was I ain't complaining.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[bkkcanuck8]

Wow.... so low.... I think my lowest bill (recently) was 3,800 and usually 5,000 to 6,000 per month.... and that was billed to and paid directly by me to the MEA.  Now I do keep the AC running 24 hours a day (27C) just because I have a bank of computers that I don't like having run in non-AC conditions.  

 

It will be interesting to see what I pay in my new place -- only one room has AC.....and it was smaller than my last condo (even though the townhouse is larger --- 2.5 x larger; 37.5% the cost - and new).   This will be the first full month.  

 

I would not have a problem without AC, I would not swelter -- but I don't have to so I don't (though I don't set it lower than 27C or I will freeze).  I don't think it is a matter of genetics, but the fact that if you allow your body to adjust .... you would be able to handle the heat just as well.  

Edited March 10, 2017 by bkkcanuck8

[KhonKaenKowboy]

I lived 2 years without a/c in my cm studio.....facing north and not being on in upper floor made it bearable..and yes, you do get acclimated, but last April would have been a beast without a/c during record breaking heat.  I put a 17000 BTU INVERTER in...it makes my high bill about 600 per month higher....or 20 per day to run a/c and not run two fans all the time, but still use the ceiling fan some, which helps filter air.  I could see the bill being 400, If you taught school all day and turned every thing off , but certainly not in April, and probably not March.

[balo]

14 hours ago, juice777 said:

My bill is about 1500THB a month I hardly never turn on the Air con. I have a fridge, big TV , ceiling fan and a normal fan hot shower. I thimk it's about 3.7 a unit. Do you think I am paying to much?

 

Do you live in a one room condo or is it a bigger place like a house?   Under 4 baht unit and no air-con should be way under 1000 baht .

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by balo

[Naam]

On 3/9/2017 at 11:03 AM, farang1979 said:

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bill was only 570฿. In my previous two condos it was never any cheaper than around 2000฿. I have a fridge, two TVs (which with Thai TV aren't watched very often) and I have the air con on pretty much all the time when I'm in, occasionally leaving it on through the night.

your bill will be higher if you reduce the thermostat setting from presently 32º to a lower temperature.

[Naam]

58 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

still use the ceiling fan some, which helps filter air.

filtering achieved by advanced Thai engineering?

[KhonKaenKowboy]

8 minutes ago, Naam said:

filtering achieved by advanced Thai engineering?

The dust collects more on the fan than anywhere else....

[tutsiwarrior]

if ye got an AC unit in operation the inside air is filtered upstream of the cooling coils and the filter elements should be cleaned regularly to allow efficient operation of the unit...easy to do yerself, see the user's guide...

 

 

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Yes, intake filter cleaning goes without saying, for most, but 20 years in heat approaching 50c in the Arizona desert has made me a big believer in ceiling fans.  Makes a huge difference without heat, too.  And just keeps the air more consistent and fresher.

[Naam]

19 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

if ye got an AC unit in operation the inside air is filtered upstream of the cooling coils and the filter elements should be cleaned regularly to allow efficient operation of the unit...easy to do yerself, see the user's guide...

 

Quote

KhonKaenKowboy said:

still use the ceiling fan some, which helps filter air.

 

[Naam]

1 hour ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

1 hour ago, Naam said:

filtering achieved by advanced Thai engineering?

The dust collects more on the fan than anywhere else....

clearly Thai engineering!

[Naam]

15 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Yes, intake filter cleaning goes without saying, for most, but 20 years in heat approaching 50c in the Arizona desert has made me a big believer in ceiling fans.  Makes a huge difference without heat, too.  And just keeps the air more consistent and fresher.

and cools down beer bottles. fridge obsolete.

 

by the way, 45 years in tropical countries made me a "fan" of airconditioning and developed a hatred of all fans which suck hot air and blow hot air

[bkkcanuck8]

19 minutes ago, Naam said:

and cools down beer bottles. fridge obsolete.

 

by the way, 45 years in tropical countries made me a "fan" of airconditioning and developed a hatred of all fans which suck hot air and blow hot air

Ceiling fans are more to do with maintaining good air circulation and preventing stagnation of the air.  For the purposes of "cooling" it is only really used to make sure their is really a slight breeze which helps our own (human) cooling system by speeding the evaporation of our sweat.  It is not an "in your face" blowing of air -- type.  

 

It can reduce the need for air conditioner use, or reduce the amount of cool are that is produced (IMHO)... it is quite different than your floor or desk type of fans.

 

Unfortunately most places I rent have rather annoying air conditioners which creates cold spots (freezing spots) directly in the path and warmer spots.... and are both loud.  I would prefer an air conditioning system that is only really noticeable through the temperature being cooler.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

and remember the old days when a fan room was an actual ceiling fan, an d not some little piece of crap that only works if you are right in front of it.  The ceiling fan will also move the warm air around the refrigerator (give off heat) and it will work less...generally goes with the consistency idea.  Most of the housekeepers I have seen here would clean the floor twenty times before dusting the ceiling fan though...In last April's death heat wave, I was running my a/c at 27 or even 28 with the ceiling fan, and was really comfortable.  

[redwinecheese]

Thailand is not hot country in general but the sun rays here is almost vertically direct so, skin color change can happen and feeling heat in afternoons.   I wish my body can adapt to fan climate during sleep time because it is much healthier and peaceful to the mind and body.

wish you the best fan fans.

[farang1979]

your bill will be higher if you reduce the thermostat setting from presently 32º to a lower temperature.

It's set to a constant 25/26 degrees.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[juice777]

 

Do you live in a one room condo or is it a bigger place like a house?   Under 4 baht unit and no air-con should be way under 1000 baht .

 

 

 

 

Yes it's a studio condo. The pc is on nearly 24 hours a day I wonder if that is why it is quite high.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[bkkcanuck8]

36 minutes ago, juice777 said:

Yes it's a studio condo. The pc is on nearly 24 hours a day I wonder if that is why it is quite high.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

PCs that are not in sleep mode (desktop with external monitor) can suck up a fair amount of power - the more heat it generates, the more power it is likely consuming)...... but it varies widely depending on many factors.  I paid the government rate and my electrical bills were a lot more than most here (1 bedroom condo).... of course I ran the AC 24 hours a day to go keep my electrical equipment cool even when I was not there.   I have not seen them here, but somewhere here they probably have them -- a power meter.... they can be had in North America for maybe $20 - $25 USD (or one installed at the power junction for maybe $130 - $150 for the hole house/condo -- by an electrician of course).    

 

A standard desktop PC could consume 70 watts / hour or 250+ watts per hour.... depending on configuration and what it is doing (you cannot judge based on specs of the power supply because unlike other appliances - the power supply pretty much is the maximum - actually the maximum + maybe 20% depending on efficiency of the power supply -- average ones can lose as much as 20% easily).

[Lannig]

1 minute ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

PCs that are not in sleep mode (desktop with external monitor) can suck up a fair amount of power - the more heat it generates, the more power it is likely consuming)...... but it varies widely depending on many factors.  I paid the government rate and my electrical bills were a lot more than most here (1 bedroom condo).... of course I ran the AC 24 hours a day to go keep my electrical equipment cool even when I was not there.   (...)

Well, my guess is that the electricity consumed by your PC is peanuts compared to the A/C running 24x7 then.

[bkkcanuck8]

7 minutes ago, Lannig said:

Well, my guess is that the electricity consumed by your PC is peanuts compared to the A/C running 24x7 then.

I am running several PCs, one a dual Xeon CPU (8 cores) that have been running flat out (nearing 800% CPU usage) for 3 months.... it has 2 graphics cards in it (though I really should remove one since I am not making much use of the second one in that machine right now)....  which of course generates a considerable amount of additional heat that the AC will have to deal with.

[balo]

I'm running two laptops 24/7 , they do not consume a lot of power.  So must be something else. 

 

[KhonKaenKowboy]

I noticed an increase of less than  100 THB per month when I brought a 6 year old HPQ desktop over from the US.  I leave it on most of the time.

[Lannig]

 

5 hours ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

I am running several PCs, one a dual Xeon CPU (8 cores) that have been running flat out (nearing 800% CPU usage) for 3 months....

How the heck are you keeping a 8-core Xeon busy 24x7? doing modeling? rendering the next Pixar movie? coding genomes? searching for signs of alien life?

[Katipo]

On 3/10/2017 at 1:54 PM, farang1979 said:

 

Have you always got your electricity bill from the government or the condo owners? I think from speaking to other people, the consensus seems to be there seems to be a marked difference in electricity cost from the method in which you receive the bill. Buildings charging low rent charge about 8฿ per unit so that is double the government rate of 4฿ per unit. And as alluded to in other posts, lower rent buildings sometimes, though not always, will be older buildings that the owners are running into the ground and therefore will run up huge bills. I think a lot of people need to find out what the rate of electricity is and to whom the bill is paid. Rather than if they have wifi or not. I know I worked out I stayed at my last condo, which must've been 10-15 years old, and overpaid 27,000 baht over 18 months. The condo, from what I could tell, never had any maintenance on it. The washing machines got changed before I left after breaking down countless times. The bathroom had mouldy roof tiles and there were occasionally cockroaches! The owner was making a massive profit every month and there were 800+ rooms.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

 

I get all bills from the owner, not the Gov. Hence my surprise. The building was totally overhauled and renovated before I moved in. Only about 10 apartments, and quite a nice little community to be honest.

I've heard quite a few similar stories to yours, which is why it's odd to be faced with the opposite. 

Normally I try to avoid apartment buildings, but this place looks nice, and the rent was so cheap I had allowed up to 2k a month for utilities (which I am nowhere near). 

[Pib]

For anyone on MEA (i.e.., the Bangkok Metropolitan Electric Authority) service you can use their online electric bill calculator to see what your bill will be right now to the stang....the calculator includes all fees, fuel tariff, etc, that are added onto the basic rates.   If you are on  PEA out in the provinces as far as I know PEA cost is identical or durn near identical to MEA.   I'm on MEA and the calculator matches my actual bill to the stang....I get billed directly from MEA.

 

All you need to do to use the calculator is select your type of service which is going to be either 1.1 or 1.2 Residential for probably 99% of residential users....mine is 1.2 since I live in a standalone home.  The calculator will default to 1.1 Residential.  Very, very, very minor price difference in price between 1.1 or 1.2 like around 1 baht total on a monthly bill using 1000kwh,

 

If you are billed directly from MEA (i.e., account in your name) the bill will show the type of service your are on and amount of kwh (kilowatthours) used.  If you are billed directly from your landlord, he probably has his own bill format and rate per kwh....not uncommon to see landlord rates much high than MEA/PEA rates....some landlords make a nice profit off your electric bill by charging their own rates.

 

If you have access to the electric meter for your residence, you might want to take periodic readings to see how much electricity you are  using and compare that to the amount on your bill.   Usually the electric man takes a meter reading on the same day each month.  I know the MEA electric man comes around on the 13th of each month, rain or shine, weekday or weekend, holiday or not, takes a meter reading and drops the bill in my mailbox....does it for all the houses in my moobaan...and normally it around 10:30am in the morning.  Watched him do it for years....comes on his motorcycle, reads the meter, punches the reading into his handheld electric device, out prints a bill, he drops it in my mailbox.

 

Now if you live in say an apartment building the electric man may actually only come around an read one meter, which is the master meter for the building....the landlord gets billed from the electric company based on that meter reading.  Other meters you may see for your building may be landlord installed, not MEA/PEA meters, that the landlord reads on a certain day of his choosing so he can prepare his own bill for you at his rates.

 

In the calculator don't change the small stang amount under the kwh entry field as that is the fuel tariff adjustment that changes every 4 months of so based on fuel costs.  Currently it's a negative amount due to the lower cost of full...this means your electric bill is lowered a tad from the basic rates.   Then just click Calculate.

 

http://www.mea.or.th/en/aboutelectric/116/280/form/11

 

Some example cots

 

 500kwh/mo - Bt1,966 (some one with no or very little use of A/C...just lights, fans, frig, etc)

1000kwh/mo - Bt4,133 (some one with small usage of A/C)

2000kwh/mo - Bt8,464 (some one with plenty of/multiple A/C usage)

 

Heck, I go up  to around 2,500kwh hours used during hot months because I run multiple, larger A/Cs in my house.

 

With March and April being the hottest months in Thailand, A/C usage goes way up.  So, it will not be long before the March and April bills start arriving  will start seeing the posts like "Why did my electric bill go up so much!"  

 

Well, if  you use A/C , the A/C has to work much harder (consume more power) to keep  you cool.   Frequent/heavy A/C usage can easily turn a no A/C used Bt1,000 bill into an A/C used Bt4,000 bill when using a larger A/C.   

 

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2017 by Pib

[farang1979]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

For anyone on MEA (i.e.., the Bangkok Metropolitan Electric Authority) service you can use their online electric bill calculator to see what your bill will be right now to the stang....the calculator includes all fees, fuel tariff, etc, that are added onto the basic rates.   If you are on  PEA out in the provinces as far as I know PEA cost is identical or durn near identical to MEA.   I'm on MEA and the calculator matches my actual bill to the stang....I get billed directly from MEA.

 

All you need to do to use the calculator is select your type of service which is going to be either 1.1 or 1.2 Residential for probably 99% of residential users....mine is 1.2 since I live in a standalone home.  The calculator will default to 1.1 Residential.  Very, very, very minor price difference in price between 1.1 or 1.2 like around 1 baht total on a monthly bill using 1000kwh,

 

If you are billed directly from MEA (i.e., account in your name) the bill will show the type of service your are on and amount of kwh (kilowatthours) used.  If you are billed directly from your landlord, he probably has his own bill format and rate per kwh....not uncommon to see landlord rates much high than MEA/PEA rates....some landlords make a nice profit off your electric bill by charging their own rates.

 

If you have access to the electric meter for your residence, you might want to take periodic readings to see how much electricity you are  using and compare that to the amount on your bill.   Usually the electric man takes a meter reading on the same day each month.  I know the MEA electric man comes around on the 13th of each month, rain or shine, weekday or weekend, holiday or not, takes a meter reading and drops the bill in my mailbox....does it for all the houses in my moobaan...and normally it around 10:30am in the morning.  Watched him do it for years....comes on his motorcycle, reads the meter, punches the reading into his handheld electric device, out prints a bill, he drops it in my mailbox.

 

Now if you live in say an apartment building the electric man may actually only come around an read one meter, which is the master meter for the building....the landlord gets billed from the electric company based on that meter reading.  Other meters you may see for your building may be landlord installed, not MEA/PEA meters, that the landlord reads on a certain day of his choosing so he can prepare his own bill for you at his rates.

 

In the calculator don't change the small stang amount under the kwh entry field as that is the fuel tariff adjustment that changes every 4 months of so based on fuel costs.  Currently it's a negative amount due to the lower cost of full...this means your electric bill is lowered a tad from the basic rates.   Then just click Calculate.

 

http://www.mea.or.th/en/aboutelectric/116/280/form/11

 

Some example cots

 

 500kwh/mo - Bt1,966 (some one with no or very little use of A/C...just lights, fans, frig, etc)

1000kwh/mo - Bt4,133 (some one with small usage of A/C)

2000kwh/mo - Bt8,464 (some one with plenty of/multiple A/C usage)

 

Heck, I go up  to around 2,500kwh hours used during hot months because I run multiple, larger A/Cs in my house.

 

With March and April being the hottest months in Thailand, A/C usage goes way up.  So, it will not be long before the March and April bills start arriving  will start seeing the posts like "Why did my electric bill go up so much!"  

 

Well, if  you use A/C , the A/C has to work much harder (consume more power) to keep  you cool.   Frequent/heavy A/C usage can easily turn a no A/C used Bt1,000 bill into a an A/C used Bt4,000 bill when using a larger A/C.   

 

 

 

 

Pib, thanks so much for a detailed and comprehensive answer. I have had a play around with the calculator and will save it to my favourite links so I know what kind of bill to expect next time around.

 

I guess the thing that is surprising to me is that, having lived here for 3 years, I have never heard of getting a bill from MEA or from the condo owners directly. My current condo has a pool and a gym and costs me (including bills 9600B a month). That is based on this month by the way and I take your point that bills may sky rocket in the hotter months ahead. By the way I should also add that I set the air-con to switch off for 1 hour after I go to sleep. And I switch the air-con off and on whenever I am in the room.

 

The last condo I stayed at was 4000 base rent + 300 for TV + 300 for wifi (barely there) + 300 for fridge + 300 for hot water heater and then electric was around the 2000B mark. So around 7200B. Not having a gym meant I took out a gym membership 2500B and went to Muay Thai about once a week for 300B a time (1200b). SO a grand total of 10900B a month which was my monthly bill. I had originally intended to rent short term but it ended up being for 18 months. Based on my current usage that means I overpaid by 27,000B over a year and a half. Not an amount to be sniffed at, basically works out at a return flight home for me. To rub salt into the wound the old place was a crumbling building, long past its glory overrun with lizards and the occasional cockroach. I'm gobsmacked I stayed so long now.

 

I guess alot of people see the monthly rent as the be all and end all of deciding whether or not to rent a place. when in fact there are numerous other factors to consider and life-style factors of course which are variable dependent on the person being sedentary or active, where/what they choose to eat and how often they choose to go on holiday.

Edited March 13, 2017 by farang1979

[Naam]

10 hours ago, Lannig said:

16 hours ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

I am running several PCs, one a dual Xeon CPU (8 cores) that have been running flat out (nearing 800% CPU usage) for 3 months....

How the heck are you keeping a 8-core Xeon busy 24x7? doing modeling? rendering the next Pixar movie? coding genomes? searching for signs of alien life?

he is mining Bitcoins. as simple as that.