Taiwan Utility Bills

Anyone got any idea about average cost of electricity bills here?

I live with my fiance in an apartment with average usage of electrical appliances such as washer and dryer, A/C when we are home, iron, TV in the evening and dish-washer. Our electricity bill for 2 months come out to be NT$30,000!! We normally pay around NT10,000 for 2 months but nothing close to NT$30K?! We asked the electric guy to come and look at the meter and he said it doesn’t look like there is anything wrong. Can anyone give a benchmark to electricity cost in taiwan or offer any potential reason to our huge electricity bill??

Thanks in advance for any advise.

Did those two months happen to be the months when you were running the A/C for the first time in the hot, hot summer?

Do you have any power outlets outside where someone, like maybe your landlord, could plug in a bunch of power tools?

You have a problem.

My power bill - in Kaohsiung - is NO more than NT$4000 for 2 months.

A/C in living room on from 6pm to 11pm (Monday to Friday) and from 9am to 11pm (Saturday and Sunday)
A/C in Bedroom on from 11pm to 4am
Computer on 24/7
T/V on 6pm to 11pm
4 loads in the washing machine on Saturday.

No dishwasher (hands), no dryer (sun), no iron (laundrette downstairs).

As MaPoSquid suggested, maybe someone is stealing your power. Get another electrician to come in and check your meter, and everything else.

Just to reinforce what the others have said: 30k is way, way too much. There definitely is a problem. Even 10k is really high. Do you live in a mansion? Call the power company and talk to someone. Keep making noise about it. If you can’t solve the issue, move somewhere else. Something is seriously wrong. A bill like that would floor me. The absolute highest bill I’ve ever had was around 5k.

thats disturbing.

30000 for two months is madness! thats more than the total rent for 2 months on my 3 bedroom flat! shit.

either solve the problem or move out… i’d suggest interogating your landlord about it.

[quote=“John”]You have a problem.

My power bill - in Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong) - is NO more than NT$4000 for 2 months.
[/quote]
This has been my average in Taipei as well. And if I am home the air con is running - winter and summer. :wink:
I don’t have dishwasher, dryer, and I don’t iron but that can’t be that much more.

My electricity bill wot I just got was NT$10k. That’s pretty much normal for me and was in line with expectations.

Yours is quite possible if your a/c units are old and inefficient. Check their power rating and do the maths based on how long you estimate they were on for. Is your water electrically heated ?

I run around 32,000 BTUs of a/c pretty much 24/7 in the summer. Don’t forget they up the price for the summer months.

I would still get a spark to check if someone’s leeching from you.

Try unplugging everything and then go look at the meter to see if it’s still blazing away.

WAY too high! Which floor are you on? I discovered (after almost two years) that the rooftop apartment above me was getting its electricity through my supply.

Thank you all for your spontaneous responses. Much appreciation.

We do have an old A/C unit running in the house that breaks on a regular basis like once every few months. Not sure how things are wired in the house and how others can possibly be stealing our electricity but we live on the 13/F. Will keep that in mind and have someone professional to check – the power company is of no help. Me and my fiance both work – I can’t have the guy come in when we are both out?! They don’t work on weekends nor evenings!

Frustrated with everything in Taipei…

thats insane…i ran a single room for A/C 24/6 in Taipei with a computer 24/7 with lights on 24/7 and it was under 2k/month.

Someone is scamming U…

Rign Tai Dian and tell them someone in the building is fiddling with their installations. They’ll be round in a shot if they think someone is fiddling with their boxes, er, so to speak. Unless you’re a total aircon junkie and your house is kept like a fridge, there is something wrong. I suggest if you get no satisfaction do not pay the bill and see who in the building squeaks when the electricity is cut off then tell the landlord you want an explanation of how someone is stealing your electricity.

Don’t know how on earth I turned this thread up, but… I tend to avoid centrally air-conditioned places as a friend of mine told me a horror story about a place he rented. The central a/c was broken old an inefficient and he got a huge bill. Just a thought. Thirty K is ridiculous though and someone is clearly stealing the juice.

30K is Insane.
I have three a/c, several dehumidifers/aircleaners, etc. Plus I like to leave shit on, it comforst me. The highest my bill has ever been was 12K. And that was when everything was on all the time.
30? In the winter months?
My last power bill was around 4, and that’s with little credit factored in.

Avoide the gombeenman, yeshshir!

You 100% have a problem and need it checked out. Refuse to pay your bill and insist on an investigation because someone is fiddling something somewhere.

For comparison, I live in a large detached house with 5 floors, no a/c but ginormous electric water heater running 24/7, lots and lots of lighting including outdoor floodlights, two computer servers running 24/7, appliances etc. and the bill is always NT$2500-$3500 per two months.

around 1000-1300NT$ every 2 months for me in Taipei (TV, computer, AC…) :smiley:

I think you have a serious problem :s

Wow,it is way too much.Are you sure?Only electricity?
About NT 6000 for 2 months is all I have to pay.
And I think it is too much then.

I see 2 possible problems. As was pointed out by MaPoSquid, some families own more than one unit in a building and have had the electricity wired into only one meter for convenience and a break in price on multiple meters. I know this has been discovered by other westerners who rented without checking as the above quote indicates.

The scond problem which may be a combination with the first issue, is that many buildings here are built as a commercial building which means that it is permissable to have small business offices on the upper floors. The power company charges about double for the useage in theses units. You can see how and why a family might have purchased 2 units in such a building and charged all the electricity into the business office space and live in the second unit. Then, later, they rent it out as a living space and the hapless tenant gets a royal screwing.
Check the meter as indicated above. If it isn’t spinning after all the power is shut off at the main breaker in your unit, I would start looking for a new place to live. If it is still spinning away, demand that the power company come and check it out. Your landlord will be no help as he is the one that is doing the porking.

30,000 sweet mother of God!

As has been said by more than one poster you are being screwed, however getting Taipower to fix the prob or even investigate is very difficult.

I am having a problem with some neighbors who went onto the roof and spliced into a public power line for the building, i.e. hallway lights etc… and then ran a power cord 100 feet over the side and along the building to supply power to their illegal addition which they run as a back room gambling house.
I called taipower and was told that if they were not stealing my power I was not allowed to report it.
After repeated calls they said “oh we checked from here it is fine.”
Obviously it is not fine, but getting someone to do their job is as usual almost impossible.

I wish you luck sorting this out.

keep us posted.

I can’t say that they are being screwed. While in the summer time my bills for 2 months were around 12K, many of my colleagues routinely have bills of $30-40K for 2 months.