Solar power setup for your home in Thailand

[Dannie Boy]

Are you sure they take the meter away, or do they just disconnect?

[buksida]

They take it away, it has happened to two households I know who live locally after they have been away for a while. Just trying to find out how much control PEA has over these meters.

[Dannie Boy]

By the sound of it - total.


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[Nereus]

They take it away, it has happened to two households I know who live locally after they have been away for a while. Just trying to find out how much control PEA has over these meters.

Yes, the meter belongs to the supply authority, PEA and MEA. They will take it away if the bill is not paid, or they BELIEVE that the bill has not been paid!

Mine in Hua Hin was taken away once, despite the bill having been paid by direct debit from the bank.
In addition, the woman that was renting the house at the time was stood there arguing with the pricks taking it, while holding her 1 year old grandson in her arms!

She had to go to the MEA office and pay cash for the account before they would reinstall the meter.
No refund OR apology was made, just a credit on the next bill.

[Nereus]

Interesting (stolen from another blog):

The largest meter available from our local PEA is a 30(100) A cost for meter is baht 12,800
A 15(45)A meter costs baht 4,600 electricity cost is the same for both.

I have not seen one, but it appears that all the new meters are now 30/(100), 15/(100) etc., one size fits all, as opposed to the old ones such as: 5/15, 15/40, etc.
But the cheaper ones are not "smart", or digital in the electronic sense.

[Big Boy]

I think PEA does own the meters and private householders pay a deposit for them.

This was done away with some time ago, and all the existing deposits were refunded.

But they'll still take the meter away if you don't pay the bill so they must still own/control them?

Not in Soi 94, Hua Hin. The lady next door has been absent for several years now, and maybe settles her puny bill once a year. She is almost permanently cut off, but her meter is still there.

[Benroon]

A friend bought a house in a relatively new gated community (underground utilities, project power and water.). After having a solar system installed on his roof, he was approached by the manager of the project and informed that he would have to pay the cost of having a digital meter installed to replace his existing analog meter, to prevent the export of electricity back to the grid (turning the meter backwards). He engaged a lawyer, intending to fight it and if the digital meter was a requirement, to force the project to pay for the new meter. The lawyer informed him that he was required to pay to replace the meter, even though the rules of the project don’t mention anything about solar power systems. He was told that PEA owns the meters and it was PEA’s requirement to change the meter. This sounds fishy to me, if they are on Project power, why would PEA own the meters at each house, instead of only owning the single meter where PEA provides power to the project ? My friend was not told exactly what rule or law applied to them, their take-away from the whole exercise is “that’s just the way it is in Thailand”. I suspect we don’t know the details of the whole story, and what we think we understand may not be correct. Does anyone know anything about this situation ?

Sounds fishy to me too - I would be stunned if PEA were in the least bit concerned about his analogue meter going backwards, else they would have a field day visiting every project out there informing probably hundreds of home owners they have to change their meter! I know of one person with a solar system who asked PEA if he could take out his digital meter for an analogue and they said yes!

I would call the project owners bluff and ask PEA directly if they have a problem as this just sounds like the old story of greedy project owners trying to protect their illegally gotten gains by charging an inflated electricity price which has been declared illegal by the courts already. Meters going backwards will dent that income.

Which project is it?

[Dannie Boy]

Has anyone done a recent review of the payback for having solar power installed - I’m sure that if these sort of temperatures become the norm then more people will want to consider solar?


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[STEVE G]

Has anyone done a recent review of the payback for having solar power installed - I’m sure that if these sort of temperatures become the norm then more people will want to consider solar?


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I'm not in Thailand at the moment but I'm trying to get my partner to go to the Solar Solutions shop in Hua Hin for a quote so I can start looking at getting some installed when I'm back next. She owns a shop in Hin Lek Fai that uses more electricity than our house so I was thinking of going solar on the shop first and then the house later.
I've noticed that many developments around our way are now installing solar as standard on new builds.

[Dannie Boy]

Has anyone done a recent review of the payback for having solar power installed - I’m sure that if these sort of temperatures become the norm then more people will want to consider solar?


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I'm not in Thailand at the moment but I'm trying to get my partner to go to the Solar Solutions shop in Hua Hin for a quote so I can start looking at getting some installed when I'm back next. She owns a shop in Hin Lek Fai that uses more electricity than our house so I was thinking of going solar on the shop first and then the house later.
I've noticed that many developments around our way are now installing solar as standard on new builds.

Are you planning to do a cost benefit analysis or just go ahead with it?

[STEVE G]

^ To be honest, as long as the price is reasonable I'm just going to do it.
At the moment I'm still working and can easily afford it but in a few years I'll be retired and keeping costs down will be more of a priority, so I'll just do a quick rough calculation and as long as it looks like it will pay for itself within about 10 years, I'll be happy.

[KhunLA]

Has anyone done a recent review of the payback for having solar power installed - I’m sure that if these sort of temperatures become the norm then more people will want to consider solar? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, we have solar, and use 500-700kWh a month (PEA units), just the house, not including the EVs.

Our system was installed, so depending on components used, more expensive than DIY. Although I priced the components, and TBO, wasn't worth trying to DIY it, since no crew, tools, or experience. Though YouTube could easily talk me though it.

Our system cost ฿445k, with ฿185k of that, being ESS/battery back up for overnight. System is perfect size for our house, as on crappy days, provides just enough. Others, way more than enough, and plenty of excess to charge up the EVs.

ROI @ 500kWh a month ... 15.6 years
ROI @ 700kWh a month ... 10.9 years

Without the ESS ... 6.5 to 9.1 yrs (700kWh or 500kWh a month)

ESS are two 10kWh (cost ฿90k + ฿95k)
8kW inverter w/18 panels (540w)

Was installed by Solar Solutions

We abuse the AC pretty good, and have the EVs; car, motorcycle, ebike
Solar saved us almost ฿48k on petrol the first year owning. Add that to the electric savings, and it's a very quick ROI.

We have had 1000+kWh month, and usually in the 800-900kWh, when home all month. Though we go O&A (out & about) quite a bit, 11 days last month, and still used 550kWh.

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If all our EV driving was local, and 20k kms a year
We would save ฿55.5k a year, based on petrol price (91) of ฿38.88
Actually did the calculation the other day.

With solar, 20k kms / 360 kms = 55.5 full charges X ฿1000
saved = ฿55.5k a year.

via PEA ... only ฿42k saved per year
55.5 X ฿232 (46.3 kWh X ฿5) = ฿13k less than solar savings ฿55k
so only ฿42k baht saved per year.

Solar system would have cost the same, with or without the EV, so no additional cost to the system to charge the EVs

[Dannie Boy]

Very interesting thanks - I’m sure a lot of people will be considering these options.

[Henry 14th]

The replacement cost of panels also needs to factored in to cost benefit calculations.

Last time I looked (and it was 7/8 years ago), the panels would need to be replaced after around 9-11 years.

It’s clearly a few years ago and I’m sure the whole solar game has changed a lot since then. But I’m also sure that there maintenance payments to be made to keep the system running in full flow.


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[KhunLA]

The replacement cost of panels also needs to factored in to cost benefit calculations.

Last time I looked (and it was 7/8 years ago), the panels would need to be replaced after around 9-11 years.

It’s clearly a few years ago and I’m sure the whole solar game has changed a lot since then. But I’m also sure that there maintenance payments to be made to keep the system running in full flow.
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