Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rob12]

Is this normal for this time of year? It's my second month here. I've been keeping the temperature at about 23-24 degrees in the apartment. Showering regularly and doing laundry about twice a week.

I've looked at some other posts and it seems that other people have had similar bills but what are some tips on lowering the costs? Thank you. And sorry for the repetitive questions but I'm new to the country and any help is appreciated

[Adventurer]

[Skippy]

The key point if if you heating panel is on, it is likely burning gas. The ondal/heating system is not the best for warming up a place. So my advice is turn it off FULLY when not using. Turn it ON when you need to heat water or want to heat up the room. Avoid leaving it on when you go out. Also learn to us the timers if you do want to turn on for a time.

In the end if you want a well heated room avoid using the ondal system. Consider the electric heaters, but be careful as then electricity bill will rise. I would consider getting on of those propane heater on wheels. Those will heat up a room well. But I would stock up on a carbon monoxide detector.

Be aware that temp on the system will vary. Meaning if the system means 21c, that might just be the general floor temp not the actual room temp. Might want to use a extra external thermometer.

This month I am taking my grandma's and mother's advice and just put on a sweater.

My bill was 144,000, was a bit of a shock for me. But my apartment is weird and inefficient with the hot water tanks.


As a side not if you are really paranoid you are being cheated consider finding your meter and recording it yourself. Plus make sure you have the right bill.

[Adventurer]

[12ax7]

How big is your apartment? Ours is about 49 pyeong. My wife, our son, and I live there (so lots of hot water being used for showers), and the last gas bill was 209000 won.

[Chris.Quigley]

A few years ago I went to Thailand for most of a month. When I got back I had the highest bill of the entire winter for that month.

I turned everything off... even though I was told not to because the pipes could freeze.

I think that it's possible that my bill was basically just an average of all the people on my floor. The temperature dropped to -20 while I was in Thailand which explains why it got so high. I think that I basically just subsidized my neighbours... I heard that this is possible because usually there is only 1 gas metre per floor. What they do is just take the total gas used and divide it by the number of apartments on that floor.

[seoultee]

I had the same shock factor with my first 2 cold month bills. Not quite 200k won but around 130k. This month I rarely used the ondul floor heater. I resorted to wearing warmer clothes and using my electric blanket instead. I will know in a day or two if this will help, but I'm sure it will. The floor heaters really use a lot of electricity from what I understand.

[seoultee]

[zoeksk]

Is it getting warmer in Korea atm? Today was 19 Degrees in England and I thinking it would be sweltering cycled 45 mins to work in 3 layers plus a wind-proof jacket. Not fun.

I move to Seoul in 15 days though

Is it normal to have the gas split over the entire floor then? As that seems like a really good idea for gas companies to rake it in. As what's the point in economizing when you know that you'll be paying for everyone else to stay warm?

[swinewho]

The cost of the bills depends also on the type of fuel the boiler uses:

LPG is by far the most expensive to run in my experience - the is another one L?? that is wayyyyy cheaper and oil.

I used to like the oil one because I would pay to have my tank filled up and then you could SEE how much you would go through each week - not waiting until the end of the month and getting a huge bill!

But each apt has a meter - yours should be visible on the outside of your apt, they normally have your apt number directly above it.

Use this a s a ref point to see how many units of gas you are using.....

Soon it will be warm enough to not need Ondol and cool enough not to need AC love March-May/june!

[maximmm]

If you live in an offictel (spelling?), averaging out bill is a common practice by the powers that be. Keep in mind, they don't just average out heating bills based on number of apartments, but also the size of apartments. So, the bigger the apartment, the more you'll pay. This also means that turning off the heat - ever - is pointless, since it is doubtful that any neighbors are doing it. Welcome to ROK?

[Rob12]

My apartment's huge actually, 2 bedroom so that probably explains the high price. I contacted the teacher that lived here before me as well and he said this time of year that's the normal cost unfortunately.

Luckily I'll be moving to a smaller apartment soon so hopefully the cost will be cheaper. And I lowered the heat as well. I didn't know that the cost could be split between floors and what not, and yeah I guess if it's a private company it'll sky rocket during these months.

[orosee]

[12ax7]

[Hobophobic]

Last three months - total gas bill 631,000 Won