Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jondepoer]

Folks, I live in a three bedroom apartment with an air conditioner. The two excess bedrooms are closed off most of the time. It's a small family apartment.

I got an air conditioner in May, and watched the electric bill go from 60,000 to 180,000 to 275,000. It's on most of the time when I'm at home, however I turn it off while I'm at work, etc. There's really nothing else that could be eating all that power.

Is this POSSIBLE? Friends have told me that they air condition their (smaller) apartments for less than 50,000 a month. Can my bill possibly be this much higher???

[northway]

That's crazy enough that I have to ask: are you sure that payment for your previous bills went through? Looking at the increments:

60,000
120,000
95,000

Just throwing it out there that I see maybe you got the huge bill in your first month with the AC then cut back usage a lot but still had a somewhat significant bill the second month. I'm just speculating, but that seems a lot more likely than being charged half a month's rent for air con. I would call the company (or have someone from your school do it for you) and have them ask if previous payment went through.

[pkang0202]

For example on my electricity bill:

Tier 1: 55.10won per kw/h After 100 kW if usage you jump to Tier 2.
Tier 2: 113.80won per kw/h. (More than doubles). After 100 kw of usage you jump to Tier 3

Tier 3: 168.30won per kw/h.

SO. if I used 269 kw's in 1 month, my bill would be:

100 kw X 55.10
+
100 kw X 113.80
+
69 kw X 168.3


As you can see, the MORE electricity you use, the MORE you pay.

[Enigma]

At my last school my director warned me about using the air conditioner too much because one of the previous teachers, a big, fat guy (her words), had it on all the time to keep cool. He ended up getting a bill for 400,00 won for one month.
As pkang mentioned above, the price is graduated, so as you reach certain thresholds, the price per unit shoots up. I assume this is to discourage people from wasting electricity, but unless you're going to monitor your meter constantly, it's hard to know what level you're being charged at.

[jondepoer]

Thanks for the comments. I will verify that the payments went through, but I also suspect that this "tier" system may be affecting my bill. I had no idea that this existed. There does appear to be a similar gradation listed on my bill based on usage.

The whole idea of your cost doubling after a set amount of usage is insane. I have an apartment that's really too big for my needs, that has a drafty glass wall in one end of it, with an air conditioner in the bedroom that needs to be turned on high for the cool air to reach the living room/kitchen. The alternative is to stew in 34 degrees. I am not willing to accept the alternative, but I simply can't afford almost 300,000 a month to keep my apartment livable.

Again, thank you, but once again I've found myself with a ridiculous expense that I couldn't possibly have foreseen. It's hard not to be negative about living here sometimes.

[NMonk]

[jondepoer]

I wish I were perfectly happy like you.

[chuckster]

Try using a fan to move the air around more.... maybe you won't have to run the A/C so much. Or keep the temperature a bit warmer, not 20c.

[ChilgokBlackHole]

[northway]

[Louis VI]

I have been shocked at my bill too. I live on Jeju now and had heard someone mention before the limited electricity here, not recalling if it was in terms of overall volume for residential and industrial usage or if about pricing, just that the island has struggled in that regard. Well, I didn't care and jacked my air conditioner to 17 C for the last two months from the moment I get back to my one-bedroom apartment after a hard sweaty day of work until the moment I leave for work the next day in the early afternoon, a practice I've done every day for 10-12 weeks now, and was expecting a stunning electricity bill, and indeed was surprised: at how low it was! Only 143,000 for a month? I was prepared to pay double that for the luxury of keeping my place around 20 C while it was 28 C as daily lows outside, here on the semi-tropical isle.

[Jeju Rocks]

Luckily we have a good cross draft in our apartment, but it has gotten up to 32 degrees in here at times. We don't have AC but we use 2-3 fans running almost 24-7 and our July bill was only 26,000 won. My old apartment had AC and I would always get that summer cold, but not since living in fan land.

But figure something out. That is too high.

[red_devil]

Electricity has gone up for everyone, i live in Gangnam and read that it's gone up even more so in Gangnam. I've got a 2bdrm place and only have the AC on at night during the week, all day during the weekend. My last bill was around 180,000. But i live in a highrise apt building so part of that is the maint. fee and water bill i guess.

[PatrickGHBusan]

If you run the air con non stop, your bill will be high. The same will be true in the winder with the ondol. Then your gas bill can be quite high.

[djsmnc]

I run utilities like an Emart. The bills never add up to over 120,000, though, and that 120 happened when it was cold, like the end of February.