Current governmental electricity/water rate?

[ThLT]

With the new rental laws that started in May 2018, landlords with 5 units or more can't charge more than the legal rate for electricity and water.

 

I calculated the unit price (it's not mentioned on the receipt) and my landlord (who owns the building) is charging me more than 2-3x for electricity and water. I have the approximate unit price of what the government rate is, but want the official amounts and website to confirm, and to present to my landlord.

 

Where can you find the official government rates for electricity and water for rental properties?

Edited May 22, 2020 by ThLT

[ricklev]

Your lease should tell you the exact price for electricity you are being charged.  Enforcement of the law has mostly been stopped. Sadly.

[tropo]

This may help you to get an idea of current government charges, in Pattaya:

 

I had a pleasant surprise on May 20. The per kWh rate of my current bill had been substantially reduced this month.

 

March: Usage: 760 kWh: 3134.59 THB: 4.124 per kWh

April: Usage 844 kWh: 3505.97 THB: 4.154 per kWh

May: Usage 932 kWh: 3161.07 THB: 3.392 per kWh

 

The adjustment factor was the same for all 3 months at -0.1160

3% discount after tax was applied on my April and May bills.

 

With a 0.762 baht lower per kWh charge this month I have saved around 700 baht on my bill.

 

Edit:

 

On looking closer at my current May bill, it looks like they have given me a discount of 166 kWh.

 

(Could someone who can read Thai translate the text in the blue boxes.)

 

Taking into consideration the 166 kWh discount, 766 kWh: 3161.07 THB = 4.127 baht per kWh. about the same as March and April.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by tropo

[ThLT]

13 minutes ago, tropo said:

...

I'm at 8 baht/unit right now. So if 3.4 is the current rate, they're charging me me 2.35X the legal rate. Basically taking advantage of the pandemic as well, by not reducing the unit price.
 

Do you know where I can find an official/government announcement of the reduced rate because of COVID (Thai is even better)? I could present that to my landlord.

Edited May 22, 2020 by ThLT

[tropo]

9 minutes ago, ThLT said:

I'm at 8 baht/unit right now. So if 3.4 is the current rate, they're charging me me 2.35X the legal rate. Basically taking advantage of the pandemic as well, by not reducing the unit price.
 

Do you know where I can find an official/government announcement of the reduced rate because of COVID (Thai is even better)? I could present that to my landlord.

I edited my post after you replied and added some important information. My current per kWh rate is still about 4.127 baht, but they gave me a 17.8% reduction of kWh in addition to the 3% discount on the whole bill after tax.

 

Of course your landlord will be pocketing this discount, in addition to his surcharge, so doing really well. My normal bill, without special discounts, after tax, works out to about 4.268 baht per kWh. It varies slightly depending on how much I use, so your landlord is nearly charging you double.

 

Someone posted the official government website awhile back, but I can't find it. Perhaps someone will have that and post it here.

[tropo]

too late to edit: The above "4.268 baht per kWh" should read 4.368 baht per kWh. That's my normal charge per kWh after the 7% tax has been applied. This number will be a bit lower if I use less. Also, the adjustment factor (-0.1160 in my bill above) can vary from month to month, but that's a very small fraction of the per kWh rate.

[ThLT]

54 minutes ago, tropo said:

...

Thanks.

Regarding your bill, หน่วย is "unit." 
You used 932 units, and was charged 3228.32฿. Fees and all (and reductions)—and counting the 932 to 766 units as a discount—your electricity is at 3.46฿/unit (3.19฿/unit base rate). EDITED: Standard base rate (without fees, taxes or reductions), you seem to be at 4.13฿/unit. 

I think you have the better deal, haha.

Edited May 22, 2020 by ThLT

[tropo]

30 minutes ago, ThLT said:

Thanks.

Regarding your bill, หน่วย is "unit." 
You used 932 units, and was charged 3228.32฿. Fees and all (and reductions)—and counting the 932 to 766 units as a discount—your electricity is at 3.46฿/unit (3.19฿/unit base rate). EDITED: Standard base rate (without fees, taxes or reductions), you seem to be at 4.13฿/unit. 

I think you have the better deal, haha.

At the first place I stayed here for nearly 5 years I paid a surcharge like you are. Not as high as yours, but that was 15 years ago. I had bills over 4000 baht even back then.

 

I vowed never to move into a place again that had this surcharge. My landlord back then used to justify it (landlord from the UK who should know better) that I'm using his electrical appliances, so it covers wear and tear and replacement costs. Of course they are liable for those costs whether you pay a surcharge or not. To add insult to injury, I complained about the high usage of one air conditioning unit that wasn't working efficiently, but he never did anything about it. I suppose the more I used the more profit he made, so there was no incentive to replace it. I had some bills go over 5000 baht, and that was circa 2008, in a small apartment.

 

I found out he lowered the rate AFTER I left due to complaints from other tenants.

Edited May 22, 2020 by tropo

[Crossy]

Current PEA tariffs are here https://www.pea.co.th/Portals/1/demand_response/Electricity Tariffs Nov61.pdf?ver=2018-11-21-145427-433

 

There's an easy bill calculator here https://www.pea.co.th/webapplications/EstimateBill/index.html#

 

MEA have similar calculators if you are in greater Bangkok.

 

[Havefunme]

[Crossy]

A bit low ^^^ for the average user, see the PEA tariff and calculator linked earlier.

 

Actually the domestic rate is nearer 4.3 Baht per unit, but depends upon usage.

 

[tropo]

 

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

A bit low ^^^ for the average user, see the PEA tariff and calculator linked earlier.

 

Actually the domestic rate is nearer 4.3 Baht per unit, but depends upon usage.

 

As the resident expert on all things electric, what do you have to say about the 17.8% discount on kWh that appeared in my recent bill. Do you have any information on that? Is it a one off or will it continue for awhile?

 

It a discount for me of just over 700 baht. With the addition after tax 3% discount, I've saved more than 800 baht on my current bill.

[Crossy]

12 minutes ago, tropo said:

 

As the resident expert on all things electric, what do you have to say about the 17.8% discount on kWh that appeared in my recent bill. Do you have any information on that? Is it a one off or will it continue for awhile?

 

It a discount for me of just over 700 baht. With the addition after tax 3% discount, I've saved more than 800 baht on my current bill.

 

It's not a per unit discount, it's a reduction of the number of unit's you've been charged for (or at least that's how our PEA branch has done it). It's a government initiative to aid people during Covid-19.

 

There are a number of threads but basically:-

If you use less than 800 units your bill will be capped at the February level.

Use between 800 and 3000 units and you will get a 50% reduction on the units over what you used in February.

Use over 3000 units and the discount is 30%.

 

Our PEA bill has extra printing next to the top amount (above FT and the like) which is the number of units you've been billed for. There's also an overall 3% discount on top.

 

It's initially going to cover 3 months, although exactly which three seems unclear.

 

One of many threads explaining, there's also a reduction on water bills ????

 

 

[tropo]

12 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

It's not a per unit discount, it's a reduction of the number of unit's you've been charged for (or at least that's how our PEA branch has done it). It's a government initiative to aid people during Covid-19.

 

There are a number of threads but basically:-

If you use less than 800 units your bill will be capped at the February level.

Use between 800 and 3000 units and you will get a 50% reduction on the units over what you used in February.

Use over 3000 units and the discount is 30%.

 

Our PEA bill has extra printing next to the top amount (above FT and the like) which is the number of units you've been billed for. There's also an overall 3% discount on top.

 

It's initially going to cover 3 months, although exactly which three seems unclear.

 

One of many threads explaining, there's also a reduction on water bills ????

 

 

Thanks for the info. It was a pleasant surprise for me as I hadn't got the memo. I got a 166 kWh reduction, which is exactly 50% of my usage above my 599 February bill. 932 - 599 (Feb) = 333/2 = 166. The writing can be seen on my bill posted above on this thread.

 

It's nice to get this discount during the heaviest usage months of the year.

[ThLT]

6 hours ago, Crossy said:

Current PEA tariffs are here https://www.pea.co.th/Portals/1/demand_response/Electricity Tariffs Nov61.pdf?ver=2018-11-21-145427-433

 

There's an easy bill calculator here https://www.pea.co.th/webapplications/EstimateBill/index.html#

 

MEA have similar calculators if you are in greater Bangkok.

 

Apparently, there's a differentiation between houses and apartments. Houses legally should follow the approx. 4฿/unit, but apartments can go in the 7-9 range.

 

Can't find anything official to confirm this. Apartments aren't even mentioned or don't even fit in any of the categories other than 1 or 2 (which follow the approx. 4฿/unit).

[JusticeGB]

At the moment because of lockdown the electric usage is being reduced to that used in February.  In addition there is a 3% discount.  Your landlord should at maximum be charging you for the same units that you used in February and giving you a 3% discount. 

[Crossy]

37 minutes ago, ThLT said:

Apparently, there's a differentiation between houses and apartments. Houses legally should follow the approx. 4฿/unit, but apartments can go in the 7-9 range.

 

Can't find anything official to confirm this. Apartments aren't even mentioned or don't even fit in any of the categories other than 1 or 2 (which follow the approx. 4฿/unit).

 

You need to find the exact text of the ruling, he's allowed to tack a bit on for maintenance and providing the power, I think it's limited to less than 2 x the rate he's paying, but that needs to be verified.

 

5 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

At the moment because of lockdown the electric usage is being reduced to that used in February.  In addition there is a 3% discount.  Your landlord should at maximum be charging you for the same units that you used in February and giving you a 3% discount. 

 

The landlord owns the building, so he will be paying a business rate for the power which he then sells on, no discount applies to business tariffs so he has no discount to pass on ????

 

 

[theonetrueaussie]

10 hours ago, ThLT said:

I'm at 8 baht/unit right now. So if 3.4 is the current rate, they're charging me me 2.35X the legal rate. Basically taking advantage of the pandemic as well, by not reducing the unit price.
 

Do you know where I can find an official/government announcement of the reduced rate because of COVID (Thai is even better)? I could present that to my landlord.

There is nothing you can do, I was staying at a place last year and the owner owned over 12 different apartments (2 apartment blocks each with 6 units). Was charged 8 thb and sent a few emails to diff thai departments about it and never heard anything back at all....Now I moved into a newer apartment block and made sure i got the government rate my electricity bills have dropped dramatically from 3000thb month to 800-1200 month!

Just move when you can and choose a place where you get the actual electric rate!

[pookett]

The "going" rate is anything from 6 to 10. The actual rate of approx. 4 is based on a single phase property listed as a home.

The rate then changes for property type and/or 3 phase supply and power rating. If the property is listed as a business then there is no more than the 3% discount on consumption-only available to the account holder.

I see no problem for a landlord to add a little on top of the actual consumption in order to cover the other charges on the monthly bill, how much more they charge is the question, allowing for the above.

The most common I've seen is 8.

Edited May 23, 2020 by pookett

[zyphodb]

23 minutes ago, theonetrueaussie said:

There is nothing you can do, I was staying at a place last year and the owner owned over 12 different apartments (2 apartment blocks each with 6 units). Was charged 8 thb and sent a few emails to diff thai departments about it and never heard anything back at all....Now I moved into a newer apartment block and made sure i got the government rate my electricity bills have dropped dramatically from 3000thb month to 800-1200 month!

Just move when you can and choose a place where you get the actual electric rate!

Thai businesses, and presumably government depts too, never reply to emails unless their written in Thai. Probably because no one in the office are prepared to take responsibility for the translation, let alone the reply...

[xxeo]

Let me jump in with a similar question. In my 70sqm condo I had the aircon running frequently in april, expected a electricity bill of well above 1,000 Baht. Yesterday I got it. Ridiculously inexpensive. Can this be, just accept it? I figure out that it is exactly the same amount as in february.

 

 

 

[Crossy]

14 minutes ago, xxeo said:

I figure out that it is exactly the same amount as in february.

 

And there is your clue.

 

It's government help during the Covid-19 crisis, use less than 800 units and your bill will be capped at the February level for 3 months.

[Jonnapat]

Just paid the bill, getting on for 50% discount for last 2 months.

[treetops]

24 minutes ago, xxeo said:

Let me jump in with a similar question. In my 70sqm condo I had the aircon running frequently in april, expected a electricity bill of well above 1,000 Baht. Yesterday I got it. Ridiculously inexpensive. Can this be, just accept it? I figure out that it is exactly the same amount as in february.

 

 

 

Was your condo empty between mid January and mid February when the Feb bill arrived?  From comparing to mine, you used 41 units in February's bill period compared to 327 in this month's.  I'm winning on this as my place was empty for over 2 weeks, but yours seems even more of a drop.

[Max69xl]

13 hours ago, tropo said:

This may help you to get an idea of current government charges, in Pattaya:

 

I had a pleasant surprise on May 20. The per kWh rate of my current bill had been substantially reduced this month.

 

March: Usage: 760 kWh: 3134.59 THB: 4.124 per kWh

April: Usage 844 kWh: 3505.97 THB: 4.154 per kWh

May: Usage 932 kWh: 3161.07 THB: 3.392 per kWh

 

The adjustment factor was the same for all 3 months at -0.1160

3% discount after tax was applied on my April and May bills.

 

With a 0.762 baht lower per kWh charge this month I have saved around 700 baht on my bill.

 

Edit:

 

On looking closer at my current May bill, it looks like they have given me a discount of 166 kWh.

 

(Could someone who can read Thai translate the text in the blue boxes.)

 

Taking into consideration the 166 kWh discount, 766 kWh: 3161.07 THB = 4.127 baht per kWh. about the same as March and April.

 

 

PEA in Pattaya charges me, I'm living in a quite big condo, (what's considered the government price) 4,02 baht/kWh = same as 1 unit + 7% tax. That's perfectly ok with me. I have heard of condominiums in Pattaya/Jomtien where the cost is 8 baht/unit and even 10 baht/unit for short term leases. I am also lucky to be one of the 22 million households who gets a reduced monthly cost for at least 3 months because of the Covid-19 situation, and I'm an expat,not Thai. 

[Max69xl]

I found this online. It's not very easy to understand,but maybe it helps someone:

 

https://www.boi.go.th/index.php?page=utility_costs

[Pattaya46]

2 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

Just move when you can and choose a place where you get the actual electric rate!

Not the good way to do it... IMHO

Places that ask 8B/unit usually do this to keep the rent price low.

Places that ask official electricity price very probably will have a higher rent price.

So just do the maths: rent + estimation of electric cost, and compare.

[Metropolitian]

8 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

Was charged 8 thb

In a faint history I also was charged 8b per kWh and at another place 6b per kWh.

Which is higher than when you're on a contract with the electric company.

 

But what I also remember is that -only- the usage, in units, was billed.

 

So If we were not there for a week or month, the electric bill for that week/month was zero.

 

Would not be the case when you pay your electric to the real electric company, at which you also have to pay for the meter rent and service fees.

(there are some exceptions with small meters indicated as '5(15)' meters and zero to low usage)

[Oldie]

19 minutes ago, Metropolitian said:

In a faint history I also was charged 8b per kWh and at another place 6b per kWh.

Which is higher than when you're on a contract with the electric company.

 

But what I also remember is that -only- the usage, in units, was billed.

 

So If we were not there for a week or month, the electric bill for that week/month was zero.

 

Would not be the case when you pay your electric to the real electric company, at which you also have to pay for the meter rent and service fees.

(there are some exceptions with small meters indicated as '5(15)' meters and zero to low usage)

If you pay 8 or even more Baht per unit your bill will be twice as much. It is against the law if he rents out more than 5 appartements to charge so much. And if I don't use power (I am the owner of my condo) then I also pay next to nothing.

 

Normally I pay less than 4 Baht per unit. Such often illegal landlord surcharges can increase your bill a lot if you use for instance the aircon. The people should fight against them. It gives you a wrong picture of the real rent and in addition the landlord has little motivation to invest in an aircon that might use less power because this would reduce his profit. 

[brianthainess]

On 5/23/2020 at 7:28 AM, Crossy said:

A bit low ^^^ for the average user, see the PEA tariff and calculator linked earlier.

 

Actually the domestic rate is nearer 4.3 Baht per unit, but depends upon usage.

 

My usage 254.14 = 984.32 baht.= 3.869 per unit so if you add the 3% discount you are pretty much spot on.