Utlity costs

[pinsharp]

Can anyone give me a guide to how much I will need for utility bills for a 3 bed villa with air con

[Wanderlust]

Hi pinsharp,
That's a bit tricky to answer without a bit more detail, for example is that an aircon in every room, every bedroom, or just one aircon? Do you plan to have them running all the time or just at night? Has it got a big garden which you need to water a lot? Does the water run off a pump? All I can do for now is tell you my situation - I am in a rented bungalow, 3 bedrooms, with one aircon in the main bedroom which is on every night for about 8 or 9 hours, but sometimes more as my wife is pregnant and is really feeling the heat. We have a largish garden that needs watering quite a lot, and we have an electric pump that is triggered if the pressure is too low. We also have a washing machine, used most days, 2 fridges and two electric showers. Our electric bill last month was 2300 baht and our water 140 baht. However the electric was on the high side as we had been caning the a/c and the washing machine. Oh, and there is just my wife and I living there at the moment, but we have regular visitors. Anyway i hope that gives you some idea.

[PeteC]

Let me throw in our situation from the Pattaya side. I believe the utility costs are about standard country wide.

5 bedroom house but only two used, and one as an office. Two adults, 1 child.

2 aircons about 10 hours per day and 1 aircon about 8 hours per day.

2 refrigerators, 1 house water pump and 1 well pump, 1 swimming pool filter motor running about 8 hours per day, 6 electric ceiling fans running 12 hours a day, 1 washing machine used daily, 1 plasma TV which I understand uses a lot of juice. Also, automatic outside house/wall lights on from dusk to dawn.

Depending upon the government fuel surcharge, we've paid between 7,200 and 9,100 per month over the past year. City water used for the house only is constant at about 365 Baht per month.

Now, this place is 12 years old and nothing in it is new, except 2 aircons. Everything else probably dates back to when the place was new. I think we're paying a penality for old, non-efficient equipment. Pete

[bozzman101]

im in a 3 bed room bunglow 1 air con on moast of time
trying to hang tuff no air con in main room tv to kitchen but 2 big fans going a lot of the time well pump wash mc cooking a bitgarden lights at night used 400 units in 14 days whats the price per unit
asked neighbour said average here is 3k -4k amonth while its hot

[PeteC]

used 400 units in 14 days whats the price per unit
asked neighbour said average here is 3k -4k amonth while its hot

My last bill calculated out to 2.895 Baht per unit for the base electricity. To that add .734 Baht per unit for what I call their floating fuel surcharge. Add in VAT and the total came out 3.883 Baht per unit. Pete

[shakin' boxcar joe]

Me and my wife, living full time in a 130sq.m. 2 bed condo unit with air con, washing machine, hot water showers, tv, refridgerator, microwave and hotplates pay about 800 to 1000 a month for electricity and about 100b a month for water.
The aircons are hardly used, its breezy most of the time, the fans get switched on sometimes. The washing machine is used a lot as are the hot showers.
We pay direct to the electric company and water company , i.e. no mark ups.

Hope that helps a bit.

[PeteC]

To that add .734 Baht per unit for what I call their floating fuel surcharge.

I need to quantify the above a bit I think. My understanding is that the fuel surcharge percentage is not constant, meaning that the more power you use, the higher it gets. I'm not at all certain if this is true? I don't have an older invoice to compare. We used 2230 units last month, or my A'hole neighbor has tapped into my meter? Pete

[HansMartin]

Pete

What is a "unit"? It looks like you are paying a hell of a lot more than I am in the SF Bay area. Gas & electric runs about $150/month in the winter and $50-75 in the summer.

When we are in Thailand, my wife just gives $$ to the family -- she likes to live in a refrigerator with sweaters on !!!

[buksida]

There is a rough guide to costs of utility bills here:

http://www.expathuahin.com/renting-huahin.php

[PeteC]

Pete

What is a "unit"? It looks like you are paying a hell of a lot more than I am in the SF Bay area. Gas & electric runs about $150/month in the winter and $50-75 in the summer.

When we are in Thailand, my wife just gives $$ to the family -- she likes to live in a refrigerator with sweaters on !!!

Good question, the bill isn't specfic. I think in the States a unit is a kilowatt , isn't it? Although the Thais do indeed have their own measurement systems, I don't think they do for electricity or water, but use whatever the international standard is? It's very clear that air conditioning is the killer here. Just imagine what hotels and the like must pay with 300-400 rooms occupied in high season and the aircon going all day and night. Pete

[Nereus]

Pete

What is a "unit"? It looks like you are paying a hell of a lot more than I am in the SF Bay area. Gas & electric runs about $150/month in the winter and $50-75 in the summer.

When we are in Thailand, my wife just gives $$ to the family -- she likes to live in a refrigerator with sweaters on !!!

Good question, the bill isn't specfic. I think in the States a unit is a kilowatt , isn't it? Although the Thais do indeed have their own measurement systems, I don't think they do for electricity or water, but use whatever the international standard is? Pete

The Thais use the same international charging system. A "unit" is 1 kilowatt hour". If an appliance uses 1 kw (1000 watts) in 1 hour, that is a "unit". If it uses 3 kw (3 thousand watts) in 1 hour, that is 3 units.
If it only consumes 500 watts in 1 hour, then that is 0.5 of a unit.

Hope that helps.

[HHTel]

You're correct Nereus in that Thailand uses the same international standards to measure utilities used. I can confirm an earlier post in that the more juice you use, the higher the unit charge. Certainly true for water which starts off at 3.5 baht per unit rising to around 18 baht per unit as your consumption increases. I would guess that's an incentive to use less water in a country that has problems with drought.

[pinsharp]

Thanks to all the people who have taken the time to reply to me. If I summarise what has been said then I should budget around 3-4000 a month for average usage of air con , pool pump and other needs

[vincent chang]

I think the water is measured in cubic meters.

[PeteC]

The posts about the new golf course and 'water' reminded me of this. If you own your home, a good investment are rain gutters with at least one of the downspouts going into your reserve water tank. It's easy to create a swing arm spout you can move around. This gives you some extra water in case city water goes off, the well runs low or whatever reason. If your tank is below ground, you can still do it without too much trouble.

Be sure to screen off the spout mouth or the entrance hole to the tank so you don't get leaf or other debris that may be on your roof into your tank.

You can also buy some of those big Thai clay pots to put under the spouts and gives some extra water for the garden. Pete