Electric charge getting high from Government?

[chopsticks]

For a monthly bill of around 1 000 Baht how many (approximately) kWh units would have been used ?
also, if there's zero usage recorded in a month, is there still a fixed charge of approx 45 Baht payable ?

[Nereus]

For a monthly bill of around 1 000 Baht how many (approximately) kWh units would have been used ?
also, if there's zero usage recorded in a month, is there still a fixed charge of approx 45 Baht payable ?

For 934.62 Baht I used 279 units. Plus 83 Baht for the F.T. plus 7% VAT of 71.28 Baht. There is a fixed "supply charge" of 38.22 Baht / month.

[chopsticks]

Thanks, that comes to approx. 4 Baht per unit inclusive of all the add-ons at that level of monthly usage. (Just noticed that this was already covered in the earlier pages )

One other question : When a compressor on a fridge or air-con cycles: at start-up is the power consumption the most significant factor in overall running costs ? In other words, will an air-con compressor running continuously for 2 hours cost less to use than one that cycles on/off every 30 minutes over a 4 hour period ?

[Nereus]

Thanks, that comes to approx. 4 Baht per unit inclusive of all the add-ons at that level of monthly usage. (Just noticed that this was already covered in the earlier pages )

One other question : When a compressor on a fridge or air-con cycles: at start-up is the power consumption the most significant factor in overall running costs ? In other words, will an air-con compressor running continuously for 2 hours cost less to use than one that cycles on/off every 30 minutes over a 4 hour period ?

Yes, the starting current, albeit for a short period can be anything up to 7 times the running amps. In addition, the basic mechanical meters that are used here react to a surge by spinning longer than the length of the surge, so they can and do record a bit more than the actual consumption. The main reason why "inverter" types of air cons are cheaper to run is that they slow down, rather than stop and start to maintain the set point.

[johnnyk]

For a monthly bill of around 1 000 Baht how many (approximately) kWh units would have been used ?
also, if there's zero usage recorded in a month, is there still a fixed charge of approx 45 Baht payable ?

Utilities always have fixed charges. Apart from the power consumed there is ongoing infrastructure maintenance and repair that never stops. There is a bit of a trend in the west to break electrical utilities in two - power generation (dams, turbines, coal/oil-fired plants etc) and transmission/delivery. It all has to be paid for.

[chopsticks]

Thanks, that comes to approx. 4 Baht per unit inclusive of all the add-ons at that level of monthly usage. (Just noticed that this was already covered in the earlier pages )

One other question : When a compressor on a fridge or air-con cycles: at start-up is the power consumption the most significant factor in overall running costs ? In other words, will an air-con compressor running continuously for 2 hours cost less to use than one that cycles on/off every 30 minutes over a 4 hour period ?

Yes, the starting current, albeit for a short period can be anything up to 7 times the running amps. In addition, the basic mechanical meters that are used here react to a surge by spinning longer than the length of the surge, so they can and do record a bit more than the actual consumption. The main reason why "inverter" types of air cons are cheaper to run is that they slow down, rather than stop and start to maintain the set point.

If it's as much as 7X the rated current wouldn't it be likely to trip the overload circuit breaker or is the duration too short to cause nuisance tripping ?

[chopsticks]

For a monthly bill of around 1 000 Baht how many (approximately) kWh units would have been used ?
also, if there's zero usage recorded in a month, is there still a fixed charge of approx 45 Baht payable ?

Utilities always have fixed charges. Apart from the power consumed there is ongoing infrastructure maintenance and repair that never stops. There is a bit of a trend in the west to break electrical utilities in two - power generation (dams, turbines, coal/oil-fired plants etc) and transmission/delivery. It all has to be paid for.

Electricity supplier tariffs in Europe used to have similar fixed or standing charges payable monthly or for each 3 month billing period even if nothing was used. However, there are now many options available including some where there's no fixed charge but the first few hundred units are billed at a higher rate than the remainder. These can be more economical for low usage consumers or holiday homes.

[Nereus]

Thanks, that comes to approx. 4 Baht per unit inclusive of all the add-ons at that level of monthly usage. (Just noticed that this was already covered in the earlier pages )

If it's as much as 7X the rated current wouldn't it be likely to trip the overload circuit breaker or is the duration too short to cause nuisance tripping ?

For one thing, yes it is a short duration. All protection devices have some form of built in delay, be it thermal or magnetic. A thermal type device needs to heat up before it trips, and a magnetic type will have some form of mechanical delay, depending on the type and application.
Protection devices are used basically to protect the installation, not the appliance. An "overload" type of device to protect the appliance is used in the circuit, or sometimes internally, after any distribution breaker, and is rated to suit that individual appliance.

[buksida]

Has anyone else had an extraordinarily high electric bill for the last month? I know the govt put the unit price up during hot season but ours was over double the average and came in over 3,000 baht.

[Big Boy]

Yes, my bill usually comes in at about 2,400. Last month's bill, and todays were both 3,700.

[dtaai-maai]

And ours was about 30% higher than usual.

[bsdk1960]

our bill this month is 24 sadang higher than februar month pr.unit

[jingjoe]

50% up,i thought maybe i was running the a/c a bit more but 2800bht to 4400bht is a big jump

[Petrus]

Me too : i have been paying 700b a month for the last 2 years, living alone & using same appliances
But last month i was billed 1.400b
And this month 2.800b
Which makes no sense at all...
I already contacted Electricy dpt., they said to switch off power and watch if my meter wheels still turns... of course it doesnt...
Are we being cheated?

[hhfarang]

Yes, we got ours yesterday and we were gone for nearly 3 weeks with the house locked up. With the way I use air conditioning I was expecting our normal 3500 baht bill to be about 1000, but it was still nearly the same (3300) even with no use for over half of the month (except for a couple of lights we left on and the gardeners watering the yard).

...and speaking of utility prices, our normally 150 baht water bill doubled to 300 this month, but I guess that's watering the garden in the dry season.