Taipower's (and water)'s rule on service termination for nonpayment?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

How long does Taipower or the water services take before they terminate your service if you for example are unable to pay your power/water bill? What’s the rule on number of notices required or if there’s any consideration (such as children’s health or welfare) about this?

Or do they cut you off as soon as you are 2 months overdue with no prejudice?

I heard in many countries, particularly Europe makes it really hard to cut off power or water because of welfare concerns, do such concern exist in Taiwan?

Just curious, not that I’m going to not pay utility fees…

2

Probably easiest just to give them a call and ask.

3

I got cut off many years ago. It was about 2 months for the electricity and 3 months for the water.
I stupidly went out of country for 3 months and figured id get it when I got back. Dumb move.

I got back on a Friday of a long weekend, and I was in darkness for 5 days until they hooked it up again. Had to pay I believe $300 reconnection fee too plus a small lateness penalty

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4

So absolutely no fricks given about children in the house who might need light to be able to study and all that unlike say Sweden?

5

You can sign up for ebill for power and water and pay through something like momo pay

Home management fees you can usually pay one year at a time for a discount

Btw in the states it’s illegal to cut off power or electricity to a tenant for non payment. I guess it’s fair game here?

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6

You don’t have kids, do you? And you’re not in Sweden…

I think I had to miss one bill (that I don’t remember receiving) and be in the process of getting the next one (which had been mailed but not yet received) for them to cut me off. They turned it back on the same day I paid the two bills, plus a small fee.

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7

Yea that was what I mean, something about people being unable to afford the electricity bill and health and welfare and all that. I guess Taiwan don’t believe in that. But in the states cutting off electricity means property damage if you are in a cold region, because if you fail to heat a home it becomes moldy, pipes break, etc. (like that Texas fiasco) whereas in Taiwan no home would suffer property damage if electricity is cut off. So maybe they treat electricity like cable or something, basically a privilege.

8

My heart is breaking for these fictitious kids being forced to study in the dark. If there’s a Forumosa fundraiser, I’d be happy to chuck in a couple of candles.

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9

And generally in Taiwan if someone was too poor to afford the power, someone in the family would cough up the money, if not for love but for the saving of the family face.

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10

Thankfully Taiwan, for the most part, believes in pay your own way and not forcing others to pay for your poor life choices.

Why are you and your fictitious children using more than you can afford to pay for? Who do you expect to cover your fictitious bills?

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11

I lost one of my bills once and forgot to pay it because of that. Two months later the next bill came. It was red and had a termination notice attached. I can’t remember how long I had from the notice to the shut off date. Your best bet is to call and ask. Maybe they can work out a payment plan as well.

12

You can turn the water back on. They aren’t allowed to disable it. It’s just turned off on the roof and a tag put on that you can cut off.

At least that’s how it used to be.

13

Just set up automatic payment with your credit card.

Easy to do and easy to cancel.

14

if you can afford children in Taiwan, you can afford the utility bill :slight_smile:

15

losers… why cant they study under the street light.
just looking for excuses not to submit homework.

16

But if those concerns are not met you’ll be cut off in a nick. And fees will pile up. Taiwan is more lenient.

17

Especially phone bills, sometimes I see people with a stack of 8-10 mobile phone bills at the convenience store.