Electricity bills - How much is yours? Am I being cheated?

Discussion Open Forum
#1

Got my electric bill today. It’s winter so no air-conditioners so it’s cheaper than normal. It’s 4907 dollars. And according to Taiwanese families that’s more than they’ve ever seen…ever. In the summer I’ve had as high as 12,000nt…for two months. A friend who owns a Bushi-Ban with dozens of computers says his bill isn’t that much.

I went to the electric company and they said they’d send someone to check it out…he never came. I’m worried that one of my neighbors is stealing my electricity.

So two questions. How much is your bill? And how much would 100watts cost per hour in NT?

#2

My last bill was under 500NT for two months. Me and the missus are out at work all day, but even so, we use the TV, computer, oven etc when we get home and the weekends.

Is someone else hooked up to your supply? Even in the height of summer with three A/Cs on the go our bill didn’t hit 3,000 for two months.

Query your bill with the power company. If you’re insistent enough, they’ll send someone round to check it out.

#3

:astonished: OMG! In winter, my electric bill averages around $1200.

:astonished: :astonished: Holy crap, batman! In summer, I pay a little over $3000 for two months (and I use the AC all the time in the summer).

Quite possible. Something is definately wrong.

#4

I’ve got a big apartment (about 60 pings), and we run the air conditioners all the time from March till November, and our bill is usually around nt6000 to nt7000…that’s with two air conditioners running in the living room, computers/TV/sound system/large fridge and deep freezer, etc. lots of electrical equipment.

In the winter, it’s usually around nt2500.

Sounds like there is a problem with your bill for sure… :frowning:

#5

My bill is about NT$10k in the summer and around NT$4k in the winter. Always has been. I often wonder at people who have electricity bills that are 1 or 2 grand. I did work out the summer one and running two or three humungous airconditioners will do it all right.

So what’s normal? And I mean normal for the sort of people that don’t go around turning off 20 Watt stairwell lights to save on the “shared” part of the bill. I mean normal people who actually use electricity. It seems my bill in the winter is quite high.

#6

[quote=“Mordeth”]Got my electric bill today. It’s winter so no air-conditioners so it’s cheaper than normal. It’s 4907 dollars. And according to Taiwanese families that’s more than they’ve ever seen…ever. In the summer I’ve had as high as 12,000nt…for two months. A friend who owns a Bushi-Ban with dozens of computers says his bill isn’t that much.

I went to the electric company and they said they’d send someone to check it out…he never came. I’m worried that one of my neighbors is stealing my electricity.

So two questions. How much is your bill? And how much would 100watts cost per hour in NT?[/quote]

Perhaps you are using a higher grade of electricity. Higher quality electricity is always going to be a bit more pricey than your average electricity.

#7

I think it’s going to depend on your type of dwelling (apartment or house–and size thereof), how many people live there and what appliances you use. My latest bill was about 2900. There are two of us living in a semidetached townhome. We use computers, watch TV, use spaceheaters (though less since the kero heater) and washer/ dryer. I think the dryer is probably a big power hog. These little 120v boxes have to be run for a couple hours to get an average load dry. Take a look at your consumption and that of any roomates. 4900 seems high but may not be depending on a number of factors.

#8

I just thought of something else in relation to this…I know that we pay for electricity used by the elevator (split between all residents)…maybe this has some effect on the bill, like if there are busy businesses operating in the building maybe? :idunno:

#9

I had this same problem 2 years ago when I first moved in. My first bill was 560 the second was 1500. So I found the breaker switch for my apt and turned it off. Then I went downstairs to my meter and looked at it, of course it was still running full speed.

I had my gf call the power company to ask about our bill and they gave her the usual run-around but as soon as she said we had flipped the breaker off and were standing at the meter watching it run full speed, they changed their attitude and someone came to visit the next day.

He did the same thing I did with the meter and breaker. They never told us what was going on but the next bill was magically back to the 600 range.
:s
Mordeath you have a problem , fix it.

keep us posted

#10

I hust hire an Indian bloke in the summer who sits in the corner pulling the cord leading to a manual fan. He also winds up the radio. Very cheap.

BroonAircon

#11

Hey man. That’s a great way of finding out if something’s wrong. Simple but effective. :wink:

#12

I’ll try it. But the one thing I didnt’ mention which I should have is that my house uses an electric hot water heater. I guarantee a large chunk is from that.

Plus my roommate NEVER turns off his computer.

#13

Toasty mentioned the style of the dwelling. There are many commercially zoned buildings that rent apartments. The electricity in these buildings is very high. I rent in one of these buildings. We will be moving in April partially because of the expensive electricity. I pay between 7k-10k in the summer with an A/C running during the day and on low at night. My last bill was about 5k for two months. Often the landlords will lie about the zoning just to rent the apartment. I would follow the advice given and demand that the power company come around and check it out. Somebody needs to explain.

#14

we have a two floor house that never gets nearly that high.

after we had our son, my wife pretty much didn’t leave the bedroom for 2 months during may - july, and the AC was on constantly, as well as all the other house crap (including my computer 24/7), and i think the highest i paid is 4.5 K.

my old joint in chung li had neighbors ripping the previous foreigners off for electricity - it’s not unknown.