Korean Job Discussion Forums

[is so delicious]

Made what I had heard was a good investment and bought two space heaters, one for my room, one for the guest room, which I sometimes rent out. Electricity bill for this month, compared to an average of 20,000 - 30,000, is 266,000W.

Can this possibly be right??? I am absolutely stunned. This has to be four times what I've ever paid, in any house, in any winter. How can this be??

[nathanrutledge]

Yeah, that's right.

One, electricity bills are tiered. The first tier is cheap. The second tier is much more expensive and smaller. The third tier is insane and small. etc.... So the difference between X kW and Y kW might be a few kW, but the price difference could be huge if X and Y are in different price tiers.

Two, space heaters use a TON of electricity. A standard 60 watt light bulb uses - you guessed it - 60 watts. Multiply that out, it's 60 watts per hour, 600 watts per 10 hours 6 kW over 100 hours. Compare that to a standard heater that uses 1500 watts. It uses 1.5 kW per hour, 15 kW per 10 hours, and 150 kW per 100 hours.

I'm sure you can do the math... Your electricity usage has skyrocketed, through the tiers, to the point that you pay a lot.

Simple fact is, Korea imports 100% of it's energy. If you use more than the minimums, you get burned. Gas, electric, petrol, whatever. You have to be frugal.

[pkang0202]

[seoul101]

Pkang, I don't believe you're put into only one tier and stuck there - isn't it just your usage that's tiered (like income tax). For example, the first 100,000KW you use will cost x amount per unit, 100,001-150,000 will cost more per unit, and so on..

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[nathanrutledge]

[Captain Corea]

Forgive me, but is this the same OP that made a thread about not wanting to turn on the ondol heater?

[T-J]

[pkang0202]

[SeoulNate]

[is so delicious]

Then I don't get it. Why would anyone use a space heater, if it's seemingly twice (at least) as expensive as oil/floor heating?

I still think something is amiss. I've been here over a year, and I think I would have remembered paying this much last December.

[dharma bum]

You might be able to save by using a combination of gas and electrical heat. Theoretically, since you wouldn't be using a lot of either type of energy (I believe similar tiers exist within the gas billing system), you would stay in the bottom tier of each--as opposed to falling into the higher tiers for using a lot of one kind of energy.

[nathanrutledge]

TJ - I'm fairly sure that Korea imports the uranium for the reactors.

The heaters ARE a good idea, IF you use them properly. Using them to heat the whole house is stupid. Using them to heat your feet under the desk as you sit there is a good idea. As dharma bum says, you have to use a mix of heat sources to make it economical.

[aphase]

[alongway]

I used a space heater to thaw out the laundry machine in the veranda during the really cold times. A couple hours of that and it could drain again. Ondol isn't an option there. Space heaters are really good for heating a space. the one I had was 700W, but you could turn it on half for 350W as it hard 2 elements on it.

[is so delicious]

Sorry to keep whining, but I just checked my neighbors electric bill, which was still in his mailbox. About 8,000W. And his oil bill is only 39,000W, compared to my 31,000W.

I'm pretty tough about the cold. I use the space heater in the evening, to heat only the bedroom, with my door closed. Only a few hours a day. Almost never sleep with it turned on... maybe four or five nights, when my girl slept over.

I simply do not understand how I used over thirty times the energy my neighbor did, who I assume has a family (I live alone).