Possible Theft of Electricity Supply in Cha-Am - What to Do?

[sam123]

I'm not sure if there's a more relevant section for this. Anyway, since the past few weeks, I've been monitoring my electric usage. I've put all my past five years' bills into a spreadsheet and I can see clearly that there has been a dramatic increase in unit usage (not cost).

My house does not use air-con (it's a guest house that I only use for the washing machine, laundry and running a water pump for the sprinkler system), plus night-time lighting on the driveway.

I found that when I turn off the master-power switch inside the house, the outside meter in the street very slowly and gradually comes to a halt. I expected it to stop immediately, but I could be wrong in my expectation there. I waited for twenty minutes and it eventually slowed to a stop, and I left it a while. After half an hour (still with the master-power off) I went back outside and found that the spindle had moved a little further around -- there is a black section on the spindle, making it easier to see that it has moved.

My usage of electric in the guest house depends largely on the rainfall, because if it rains, the gardener has less cause to use the sprinkler system, from which the power is taken. At night, he watches TV and has a fan running in his outbuilding (that's connected to the guest house). I can't therefore turn off all his power, because he needs to sleep reasonably comfortably and use the TV.

However, my usage has increased dramatically and if I compare the same months of the past five years, I can see that my usage is sometimes double (or even triple) what it was at that time. I appreciate that it doesn't consistently rain however and that there are other factors. For example my gardener/security man tends to leave his light on in his room when he goes out.

From the ground, I've looked up my electric pole and frankly it's a terrible mess and I can hardly see where the cables lead. However, I see that the thick black cables that PEA use, have some kind of join in several places with a very hard tape wrapped around them in a square fashion. I suppose it is conceivable that someone could insert a device into those connections, to draw-off power.

My main house that I use to live in does not seem to suffer these problems. When I'm away for periods of time, that usage of that house decreases commensurate with the lower usage as I'd expect. Nevertheless, it's conceivable that something could be drawing off that too - it's three-phase electricity. It too has increased in units over the year but nowhere near as much as the small guest house. The guest house is more remarkable because I use it so little.

Obviously I can (and should) go to the PEA office with details of this, but before I do so, can I ask if anyone has had this sort of thing happen before and what protection the law offers (if anything) and how it is best dealt with. Who should I speak to ideally? Thanks.

[dtaai-maai]

What level of theft are you talking about? In overall cash terms, I mean.

[Takiap]

Sorry I can't help, but what I do know is that I simply can't figure out how the system works here. On several occasions when I've tried to reduce our electricity consumption, the bill ends up being higher than usual. Leave lights on and use various appliances all the time, and the bill comes down. I know it doesn't really work like that, but it as sure as hell seems that way at times.

Actually I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone was stealing from us as well. We only have a fridge, a water pump, a few fans and our lights, and yet our monthly bill averages around 2500 baht.

[hhfarang]

We thought someone was stealing ours years ago and my wife went down to the electric company to talk about it and they sent out an engineer to inspect or audit the usage. It turned out no one was stealing from us but the main issue was a centrifugal pump we were using for a waterfall burning around 4k baht per month of power by itself.

Talk to the electric company to see if they still offer this service (this was back in 2006). They were able to tell us almost exactly how much of our bill was caused by each electrical device and as a result I lowered my bill by over 5k baht in one month just by changing my habits (and that pump!).

[Takiap]

HHF, I don't really think our bill is high enough to warrant an audit/inspection, but it just seems strange because I know a number of people who pay less, despite the fact that they are paying a higher rate in the developments where they live, and despite the fact that they use aircon, hot water, and electric stoves, none of which are used in our place.

Anyway, I'm not about to start complaining over a 2,500 baht electric bill when our water cost that much in a week during the dry season.

[hhfarang]

Yeah, 2500 isn't bad, mine was over 17,000 when I had the audit done! That was the first full month we lived in our newly built home. After the audit I was immediately able to get it down to 12k, then over the years making lifestyle changes here and there was finally able to get it down to an average of about 8k per month; still high but it was a big house and property with lots of "moving parts" as well as an inhabitant who can't survive here without air conditioning.

[Dannie Boy]

HHF, I don't really think our bill is high enough to warrant an audit/inspection, but it just seems strange because I know a number of people who pay less, despite the fact that they are paying a higher rate in the developments where they live, and despite the fact that they use aircon, hot water, and electric stoves, none of which are used in our place.

Anyway, I'm not about to start complaining over a 2,500 baht electric bill when our water cost that much in a week during the dry season.

Now that does sound incredibly high for water - we have a 1.1/2 rai plot that we water every day in the dry season and yet we rarely pay much over 300 baht a month. I have always been (pleasantly) surprised at how little the charge is, but your bill works out at 10,000+ baht a month - maybe that needs to be looked into?

[VincentD]

Last time the water bill went that high (from 300 p/m to 1,500 p/m) I suspected an underground leak and changed almost all the piping from the meter into the house. The bill went back to normal the following month.

[Ralfredo]

I found that when I turn off the master-power switch inside the house, the outside meter in the street very slowly and gradually comes to a halt. I expected it to stop immediately, but I could be wrong in my expectation there.

I would say you are right. If the master-power switch shuts of everything, the meter should halt immediately and stay halted. At least is that my experience.

Electricity meters can break down and fail and if I where you I would call out the electric company and ask them to explain why the meter moves even when the main power switch is of.

[Somchai Turdsak]

On several occasions when I've tried to reduce our electricity consumption, the bill ends up being higher than usual. Leave lights on and use various appliances all the time, and the bill comes down. I know it doesn't really work like that, but it as sure as hell seems that way at times.

I've noticed the electric bills where I live (not HH) do not arrive at constant intervals. In the hot season, the bills come every three and a half weeks. In the cool season it's more like six weeks. I don't know if this is intentional or not, but it serves to flatten out my cost and over the course of a year, you still end up with only 12 bills. Check to make sure the interval is constant.

[sam123]

For the purposes of clarification on this, I mentioned that I was monitoring unit usage, not cost. I think it's important to make that distinction. I'm not questioning PEA's charges here, I'm questioning the meter usage and its accuracy. There have been several peaks over the years, as can be seen from the table below, so it's not just right now. Perhaps coincidentally, I saw two different people at the electric pole recently, not dressed in PEA uniform. One said he was checking his meter. His look was strange and I could see that he was embarrassed as I arrived at my house. The other was looking up the pole. I don't know who he was. I wasn't in a mood to talk in limited Thai with him, because frankly, while I can converse well in Thai, I struggle when native speakers start chatting with a fuller vocabulary.

Please bear in mind, this is a small house which is empty, other than two outside lights which are powered from it. However, the security man's building is also powered from this house. He runs a large fan and a large TV. I believe that when he pops home to his family's house for an hour or so, he leaves these things running, so I accept that he's adding to my costs. In addition, the house also powers a water pump for the garden sprinkler system. Clearly that's a factor too. However, if you look at the below, this time of year, two yeas ago in 2011, the house was only consuming 120 units. Now, it's more 200. I can't seem to reconcile the usage.

I even recall a few months in the not-so-distant past when PEA didn't charge a monthly fee, if the customer's usage was below a certain figure. At this time, my guest house was indeed just below this figure.

There are no air-conditioners (I've turned them all off at the fuse box). I've turned off light-controlled switches months ago and I've also moved a computer server and battery backup unit out of the house, so if anything, this adds further to the expectation that the units should reduce. I'm mystified!

Date Usage Cost
18-Jun-13 204 802.63
19-May-13 441 1877.66
18-Apr-13 358 1515.21
19-Mar-13 420 1801.89
16-Feb-13 285 1182.72
19-Jan-13 295 1228.27
19-Dec-12 252 1021.53
18-Nov-12 263 1071.14
19-Oct-12 244 985.44
September 2012 - Invoices were not returned to me - total 3,109.95
22-Aug-12 191 709.55
23-Jul-13 243 934.13
23-Jun-13 213 804.55
25-May-12 284 1020.04
24-Apr-12 340 1243.9
25-Mar-12 413 1538.52
23-Feb-12 322 1171.94
25-Jan-12 323 1175.94
25-Dec-11 341 1226.01
24-Nov-11 246 852.32
25-Oct-11 228 781.52
24-Sep-11 191 635.98
25-Aug-11 161 517.97
25-Jul-11 137 437.1
24-Jun-11 122 404.42
25-May-11 112 374.86
24-Apr-11 143 452.83
25-Mar-11 159 507.98
22-Feb-11 178 582.12
25-Jan-11 223 757.72
25-Dec-10 134 435.22
24-Nov-10 107 356.34
25-Oct-10 146 470.28
--- end of records ---

[Frank Hovis]

Are you also saying that in one month, September 2012, your electricity bill for an empty house was 3109.95 baht?
Who do you know in the area either got married, had a birthday, became a monk or died in Sept. 2012 ?

Looks to me like either your 'security guard' is living in the house with his family when you are not there or that someone has tapped into your feed from about Oct 2011.

Get the PEA to come and take away your meter and see what house (or streetlights) near you isn't lit up at night.

[sandemb]

And this is a simple one!

I think the apprentice system is - you survive the first 24 hours, you've got a job as electrician.

[Dannie Boy]

I think you've been given the best advice a number of times, ask the electricity company to come out and check the meter and make sure there are no illegal connections using your supply.

[Lung Per]

I think you've been given the best advice a number of times, ask the electricity company to come out and check the meter and make sure there are no illegal connections using your supply.

I agree. NEXT PLEASE!