Korean Job Discussion Forums

[summer33ny]

We learned the hard way (with a 200,000 won bill) not to use our floor heating very often. So we bought a space heater for the cold weather and have been using that exclusively for our heating. I had assumed that a space heater would be much cheaper than using the floor heating and thought that I would be saving us money.

We just got our December electricity bill for 510,000 won!!! I felt sick! We were in Thailand for half of December too! Unfortunately, I expect January to be almost double since I was home all the time with the heater on.

Can this really be normal? And what do you do to save costs on heating? I remember wearing short sleeves in my house in NY in the winter time and the bills were never so outrageous.

[mayorgc]

I never turned on my heat last winter and the bill was 90,000 max, the average was 85,000.

But this year, I've used the heat a bit more often and my bill is 150,000. I've been using an elec. blanket lately, so hopefully it reduces the cost.

[Crockpot2001]

The problem is likey more about the lack of insulation and the building design. Concrete buildings are built faster and cheaper with designs that connect the outer supporting walls to the inner dividing walls. The result is that cold is conducted from the outter walls to the inner walls through the concrete. The use of steel rebar is required but it also makes up for poor quality concrete. Korea gots lots of that! The rebar is a better conducter than the concrete making matters worse.

[crossmr]

you assumed wrong. Space heaters are incredibly inefficient.

Weather strip all your doors and windows, that'll help a bit. If you've got an exterior door, put foam on it to insulate it.

I did all my windows but one, put plastic over 2, foam on the outside door, run the floor a few hours a day, and I'm paying around 95,000

[nomad-ish]

[Crockpot2001]

I'm hoping the downstairs neighbors keep their heat cranked. Last night the bedroom was so warm I had to open a window. We've only turned our heat on for about 2 weeks this whole winter.

[UknowsI]

As others have mentioned, I believe lack of insulation is the main reason why heating is so expensive here. So my tips would be:

-try to reduce draft from windows and doors as much as possible
-heat as small part of the building as possible (electric blanket, only heating bed room etc.)
-electrical heating is in general a very bad idea (unless you use an electrical blanket or so)
-put on warm clothes and drink hot tea

[tokkibunni8]

That's totally the opposite of my situation. I find heating/electricity cheap here. My average heating bill for the winter is about 25,000won. I have it cranked up to the max when I'm home and down to a third when i'm not. Most nights I can make it through the night without a blanket.

The rest of the year, it's about 8,000won mainly using gas for cooking 3-4 times a week and for heating water when showering/dishes.

As far as electricity goes, which comes together with my water bill is usually around 15,000won when my a.c is not on. During the summer when my a.c is on (runs on a timer and keeps it nice and cool) 40,000won. The most I've ever paid was around 60,000won and that was when I had family visiting so I pretty much had it running 24/7 at a cool 18degree celcius.

I have been at this apartment 3 yrs so I figured if there was some kind of mistake they would've figured it out by now. However, I do find it strangely odd that I have never paid a single won for my high speed internet. 3 yrs of free internet surely will come back to kick me in the ass. *knocks on wood*

[UknowsI]

There are a few possibilities of why the heating is so cheap for you. I would guess that you're either lucky and have a fairly well insulated apartment, or you have neighbours who likes to keep it hot. Last year I had a neighbour who must have kept her apartment crazily hot. Her ondol water pipe went underneath my floor, and I could always just sit on it if I wanted to stay warm. She basically heated half my apartment.

[summer33ny]

[PeteJB]

I live in a one room, so I can't compare with those of you in officetels - Though for statistical purposes my average electrical bill is about 15,000 won per month and the gas around 30,000. The highest electric bill I've had is about 24,000 - The lowest around 5k. Now that I have my desktop computer on nearly 24/7, it consumes a little bit more. For gas, even when I put my heating on for 6 hours a day it still doesn't cost much. I also don't pay anything for water. Sillim rocks.

[movybuf]

[young_clinton]

I'm currently spending 160,000 Won on heating oil a month this winter just to heat my room, I leave everything else in the cold. This is really a brutal winter, much colder and more expensive than last winter. One thing that I think really helps is make sure you have curtains on the windows, the heavier the better although even relatively light curtains will really reduce heating costs.

[earthbound14]

depends where you live and what you live in. Prices can vary wildly depending on location and wether nor not you live in an officetel, an apartment, a villa and whatever system your particular building uses or even the company they deal with.

I live in a very poorly insulated apartment (around 30 pyeong or so) and I heated it 24/7 for the last month and only paid 240,000 for water, electricity and gas combined. While one month in some tiny 4 pyeong officetel cost me 250,000 for heat alone and I only used the heat while I was at home.

Some companies and building owners will rape you others will not. Useally officetels are pretty bad while villas are often the cheapest. Our apartment is cheap due to the location (outside of Seoul, so they lowered the price as an incentive) and due to the cheap heating system (aparently other buildings in our area are more expensive despite have better insulation).

[bassexpander]

It's true. Officetels have the highest energy costs per sq. meter, compared to villas or apartments. And has probably been mentioned, the more you use above a certain amount, the more you pay exponentially. Gas heat is cheaper than electric. If your bill was 500,000 this year, be glad you didn't wait until next year to try that, because they're upping the rate substantially next winter. It's been in the news. You probably would end up paying 700,000 if you tried this same thing again next year.

Best thing you can do is buy that window film, block the drafts from under and around doors, etc. Run your heat at about 20 degrees, and wear warmer clothes.