Will be moving to TW in December so I have to start planning our budget. Can you guys tell me what to expect for costs of utilities? We will be looking for an apt in the range of about 40,000NTD/month. So what about gas, electric, internet and satellite TV?
“We” is a couple? Family of three? Four? Circus troupe of 12? $40K a month should be able to house 12 reasonably comfortably. 
I’m half of a couple, and we each have a desktop PC and laptop, a few electric kitchen appliances, one of those stay-on-all-the-time hot water thingamajigs, and often run a fan or two in the evenings and nights. We have a gas hob and a gas hot water heater. We usually each shower once a day, but in the summers a brief second shower isn’t unusual. We pay about NT$250/month for water, NT$250/month for gas, NT$750/month for electricity, and have an MOD package which is 6MB Internet + a decent-enough smattering of TV channels (a few Fox channels (English + Chinese subs or sometimes dual-language + Chinese subs) and movie channels and BBC things and Comedy Central) for $891/month. We each have a portable telephone package, too - mine is 30 months with Chunghwa Telecom for 50GB Internet a month + a bit of calling for $591/month, and my partner’s is 12 months with Taiwan Mobile for a lot of calling/texts + a couple of GB for $599/month. (I prefer Chunghwa, but they failed to match Taiwan Mobile when my partner reviewed in July, and we figured Chunghwa would have another chance after those 12 months anyway.)
So our gas + electricity + internet/TV + two portable telemaphones is $3331/month, and I think I’m overestimating our gas/electricity.
We do also pay a monthly fee for “apartment security”, which is often overlooked: $900/month.
[quote=“PenguinJim”]“We” is a couple? Family of three? Four? Circus troupe of 12? $40K a month should be able to house 12 reasonably comfortably.
I’m half of a couple, and we each have a desktop PC and laptop, a few electric kitchen appliances, one of those stay-on-all-the-time hot water thingamajigs, and often run a fan or two in the evenings and nights. We have a gas hob and a gas hot water heater. We usually each shower once a day, but in the summers a brief second shower isn’t unusual. We pay about NT$250/month for water, NT$250/month for gas, NT$750/month for electricity, and have an MOD package which is 6MB Internet + a decent-enough smattering of TV channels (a few Fox channels (English + Chinese subs or sometimes dual-language + Chinese subs) and movie channels and BBC things and Comedy Central) for $891/month. We each have a portable telephone package, too - mine is 30 months with Zhonghua Telecom for 50GB Internet a month + a bit of calling for $591/month, and my partner’s is 12 months with Taiwan Mobile for a lot of calling/texts + a couple of GB for $599/month. (I prefer Zhonghua, but they failed to match Taiwan Mobile when my partner reviewed in July, and we figured Zhonghua would have another chance after those 12 months anyway.)
So our gas + electricity + internet/TV + two portable telemaphones is $3331/month, and I think I’m overestimating our gas/electricity.
We do also pay a monthly fee for “apartment security”, which is often overlooked: $900/month.[/quote]
Just me and my wife and teenage daughter. We’re looking for something nice, and in the more expensive area so I think it will be around 40k. Seems like util, internet, etc, is about half what it is in US.
[quote=“PDGNKG”][quote=“PenguinJim”]“We” is a couple? Family of three? Four? Circus troupe of 12? $40K a month should be able to house 12 reasonably comfortably.
I’m half of a couple, and we each have a desktop PC and laptop, a few electric kitchen appliances, one of those stay-on-all-the-time hot water thingamajigs, and often run a fan or two in the evenings and nights. We have a gas hob and a gas hot water heater. We usually each shower once a day, but in the summers a brief second shower isn’t unusual. We pay about NT$250/month for water, NT$250/month for gas, NT$750/month for electricity, and have an MOD package which is 6MB Internet + a decent-enough smattering of TV channels (a few Fox channels (English + Chinese subs or sometimes dual-language + Chinese subs) and movie channels and BBC things and Comedy Central) for $891/month. We each have a portable telephone package, too - mine is 30 months with Zhonghua Telecom for 50GB Internet a month + a bit of calling for $591/month, and my partner’s is 12 months with Taiwan Mobile for a lot of calling/texts + a couple of GB for $599/month. (I prefer Zhonghua, but they failed to match Taiwan Mobile when my partner reviewed in July, and we figured Zhonghua would have another chance after those 12 months anyway.)
So our gas + electricity + internet/TV + two portable telemaphones is $3331/month, and I think I’m overestimating our gas/electricity.
We do also pay a monthly fee for “apartment security”, which is often overlooked: $900/month.[/quote]
Just me and my wife and teenage daughter. We’re looking for something nice, and in the more expensive area so I think it will be around 40k. Seems like util, internet, etc, is about half what it is in US.[/quote]
It would depend on where in Taiwan. Taichung etc, would be quite possible. I am afraid if you want a "more expensive, nice " place in Taipei, in a good area, you will ,potentially, have to pay double your budget, IMO,for a high quality “western style” place
I think our last electricity bill was 9000NT$ alone. But other utilities are reasonable/negligible. You can live quite cheaply here if you are willing to accept some adjustments to your standard of living. If you can, 40k is more than enough.
I think our last electricity bill was 9000NT$ alone. But other utilities are reasonable/negligible. You can live quite cheaply here if you are willing to accept some adjustments to your standard of living. If you can, 40k is more than enough.[/quote]
Electric bill like that, you must crank the AC 24/7. But even so, it’s still well in my budget.
I think our last electricity bill was 9000NT$ alone. But other utilities are reasonable/negligible. You can live quite cheaply here if you are willing to accept some adjustments to your standard of living. If you can, 40k is more than enough.[/quote]
Electric bill like that, you must crank the AC 24/7. But even so, it’s still well in my budget.[/quote]
Not quite. At night in one small room and part of the day in another. It was a hot summer. Also, I don’t like to hang my clothes to dry, so we use a dryer, which likely is not at all energy efficient as they would only supply us with one of those cheap ones.
That doesn’t add up. Cost for electricity in Taiwan is about 2.80NT kwh. That means you used more than 300kwh’s of electricity. That’s more than a large house in US with central air would use. Sorry, typo. I meant more than 3000kwh
Yea electricity bill is crazy. Also about 9000 here.
Billing period is 2 months. All new appliances. Family of 4 with dirty clothes to wash everyday etc… Tiny apartment and I’ve personally sealed all the windows to keep pollution out and air in.
I recently broke a bone and had a cast so spent all of August with the a/c running 24/7 at home so the cast wouldn’t get sweaty. As well as normal use of a/c (mostly at night) in July, plus a computer running 24/7 and all the other usual things - lights, fridge, washing machine etc. Even with that, the 2 month bill was only NT$2190.
Yes, it would be nice if people could specify their billing periods in order to provide useful information. Our electricity cost is (just under) NT$9000 as well, coincidentally enough - for a whole year. Your family must be huge to use six times as much electricity as us! 
I took a look at our exact figures last night and our water is actually less than NT$180/month, and there was a gas bill waiting for me at home: NT$483 for two months, so NT$250/month was a reasonable figure. Possibly worth pointing out that we rarely eat take-out (perhaps two-three times a month in a lazy month), and so we consume gas (hob) and electricity (oven, microwave, toaster) for cooking on a daily basis.
Okay, 2 months is more reasonable. Yes, if you have an inefficient clothes dryer and use it a lot that can add up quick.
9,000 sounds way too high. I’m also about 2,000 something, and use AC a lot (when we get home), have three aquariums with filters, pumps, and even a water chiller… . And two computers plugged pretty much all the time. 2 washing machines per week, perhaps, and a not so big fridge. Yeah, I try to keep off the lights when not needed.
A 9000NT bill for 2 months is not unreasonable depending on what the circumstances are. If it’s a family that is using AC in different parts of a house (2+ AC’s at the same time) that will increase it a lot. For example a family of four might have 3 AC’s running all night while most of us only have 1 AC running at a time. If it’s a house that doesn’t have doors in common areas with AC in those common areas then a lot of cool air escapes and AC’s work harder. And then there is always the dreaded rooftop apartment or frequently used top floor of a house that is scorching hot all summer. My usage is more like the rest of this thread with a summer peak of 3000/2mos and a winter low of 1000/2mos. 10,000ish for an entire year.
The strange thing is that for someone renting a 40,000NT apartment isn’t even going to notice the utility costs except for the one big electric bill during the summer. Water, gas and even TV/internet are ridiculously cheap.
AC cost can vary dramatically depending on the situation, even in US. I’m in a single family home now, and the AC cost can easily exceed $100US per month. I’ve been in a large apt building where it was only $20/month because all the surrounding apartments kept us cool and we had a higher set point than the neighbors. Going from 78F to 70F on the thermostat can increase your bill 4X in that situation. Probably we will be in a highrise apt so I expect our AC costs won’t be too bad. My wife said the higher the better because it’s quieter.
I was more interested in the other costs like water, tv, internet since I can’t find good data on that. Thanks everyone for the responses.
[quote=“Abacus”]
The strange thing is that for someone renting a 40,000NT apartment isn’t even going to notice the utility costs except for the one big electric bill during the summer. Water, gas and even TV/internet are ridiculously cheap.[/quote]
Why is it strange for someone to want to plan their budget accurately before moving into a foreign country?
Yes, it would be nice if people could specify their billing periods in order to provide useful information. Our electricity cost is (just under) NT$9000 as well, coincidentally enough - for a whole year. Your family must be huge to use six times as much electricity as us!
I took a look at our exact figures last night and our water is actually less than NT$180/month, and there was a gas bill waiting for me at home: NT$483 for two months, so NT$250/month was a reasonable figure. Possibly worth pointing out that we rarely eat take-out (perhaps two-three times a month in a lazy month), and so we consume gas (hob) and electricity (oven, microwave, toaster) for cooking on a daily basis.[/quote]
Yes, that is important to point out. I had no idea that TW billed bi monthly for electric. Where I live now they bill monthly for water/sewer whereas my last home was quarterly. You can get confused easily if not paying attention to details.
My wife loves to cook, it’s her hobby/passion so I expect we will use a fair amount for that. But the electric rate is slightly less in TW than we have now so not a concern. I’m looking forward to all the great food in TW. I’ve been there about 10 times in the last 2 years and trying new strange food is always my favorite thing. Yet to try stinky tofu but will try next time.
[quote=“PDGNKG”][quote=“Abacus”]
The strange thing is that for someone renting a 40,000NT apartment isn’t even going to notice the utility costs except for the one big electric bill during the summer. Water, gas and even TV/internet are ridiculously cheap.[/quote]
Why is it strange for someone to want to plan their budget accurately before moving into a foreign country?[/quote]
It’s strange because it’s such a small amount compared to the price of the rental. Especially gas and water. Combined they are like 500NT/mo. 40,000 for the rental and definitely <5000/mo for utilities (avg). Probably 3000-4000/mo. If you are budgeting then you could easily pay less for a really nice apartment.
My electric bill in the summer is about 7000 ntd per billing cycle (two months). Mainly due to the ac which runs about 10 to 12 hours a day, mainly at night.