Household Bills in Thailand (Utilities)

This is a two part post which covers the cost of renting a house or apartment and paying for utilities in Thailand

I've heard many an argument in my time about the cost of living in Thailand. The truth is that cost of living depends entirely on your lifestyle and the things you choose to spend your money on. If your the type of person who enjoys wearing designer clothes and eating lavish meals in upmarket restaurants then the cost of living is likely to be very similar to that of most countries. I think one of the main reason Thailand is so affordable is that the 'big ticket' expenses are REALLY cheap.

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Part One (Utilities and Internet) 

Let's not lie to ourselves, the cost of utilities in Thailand is cheap and I mean REALLY cheap. They are so cheap that they actually do not bear any comparison to the bills commonly seen in Europe. There can however be huge difference in bills depending on where you live. Every single house, apartment or building in Thailand will pay their utilities at a rate in accordance with their local authority. This means that the rate is typically higher in Bangkok then in the provinces but for the most part it is negligible. If you are living in an apartment however, it is more then likely that the landlord is adding a percentage (anywhere up to 50%) extra onto the total bill as a 'service charge' but it is very unlikely that you would be informed of this extra payment.

Electricity

The truth is that you can single out one specific household 'appliance' which will account for probably 60% of your total electricity bill. This 'appliance' is the air conditioning unit, but don't worry you don't HAVE to give it up entirely. I am particularly stingy and when i was living in my old apartment with air conditioning i would regularly undertake tests to see what would reduce my electricity consumption. I found that if you kept it at a respectable temperature (26.c plus) and were liberal with its use then you could save a whole heap of money.

When I first came to Thailand I lived in an apartment where the landlady would add on an extra 2 baht per unit as a 'service charge' and with me being unacclimatised to the Thai climate I was regularly seeing bills in excess of 1000 baht per month for a single roomed apartment. After 9 months of living in a single roomed apartment I moved into a two bedroom house without air conditioning and began paying the government rate of 5 baht per unit.

Every month the electricity board puts a bill in your letter box and you take this to your local 7-11 and you pay there. There are also a number of other ways in which you can pay the bill for example via ATM or online. 

(Monthly Electricity Slip)

This is an example of my typical monthly electricity bill. The total is 248.67 baht (about £5) which is obviously very cheap but it is important to consider the appliances that I use. I have no air conditioning but will run a fan all the time that I am at home. I run a fridge, cook occasionally, have a TV and charge the usual electronic devices. I would imagine that if I were to install air conditioning that the bill would be somewhere in the region of 500-700 baht with normal (stingy) usage. 

It is worth noting that if your bill is less then 200 baht you will not have to pay anything because this is subsidised by the government. I imagine that it would be very difficult to keep the usage below 200 baht, but I guess if I lost the fridge I would be there. 

I recently went to Malaysia and Singapore for a couple of weeks so have I have an example of a bill which is below the 200 baht threshold. 

(electricity bill below the minimum threshold) 

Water

I have never moaned about the price of water in Thailand. In my old apartment the bill was set at a 100 baht per person in the room and I currently pay around 85 baht (£1.60) per month in my house. The water that we receive is obviously not treated and cannot be drank but it's more then clean enough to wash with and even brush your teeth. The bill is payed in the same manner as the electricity at your local 7-11.

(Monthly Water Bill)

Both my electricity and water bills are fairly consistent and I can only remember one month where there was a large increase and this could be explained by my enthusiasm of having a working kitchen for the first time living in Thailand.

*When I first moved into my house there was a problem with the plumbing and I refused to pay because the bill was in excess of 1000baht for a month. I can confirm that the water company WILL take your meter if you don't pay leaving you with no water* - This was resolved amicably with my landlady and the water now works perfectly  

Internet

I think every expat no matter where they are NEEDS a decent internet connection. The vast majority of apartments will throw this in for free with the monthly rental, but you will be sharing the connection. There is nothing wrong with sharing the connection with normal people but if you are sharing with fellow expats there may be a problem. The vast majority of foreigners (myself included) use the internet as their primary entertainment device and are downloading constantly which has a massive impact on internet speed.  

When I moved into my house I was forced to buy my own internet. In my area there are only two providers TOT and BBB Broadband. They were both priced at the same and had the same amount of bandwidth so my choice was made purely on the recommendation of a colleague at my school. I chose TOT and despite reading complaints on the internet I have never had a problem with their service and thoroughly recommend them to anyone. The one gripe I had was that I was forced to pay three months rental in advance, but this is understandable because foreigners could up and leave at any moment. 

(Monthly Internet Bill)

I absolutely love my internet. I have the 10 megabyte package which is 630 baht per month (about £12). The connection has never let me down and is perfect for my needs. I use the internet mainly for downloading British TV shows and general web surfing so my needs are not too intense. There are packages aimed at users requiring higher bandwidths and these are very competitively priced as well.

The internet bill is payed in the same manner as the electricity and water bills at the local 7-11. I would like to see Thailand adopt the direct debit form of payment in which the bills are taken monthly from your bank account but it appears that people at this point would prefer to physically pay their bills each month which is sensible i guess. I imagine this will come in the future and I guess that you could possibly do something similar now if you had a credit card. 

Part two of this article will be about the costs involved with renting an apartment or house.

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