|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
sundizz
Joined: 17 Dec 2009
|
 Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 3:11 am Post subject: Air con costs in an officetel |
 |
|
| I live at an officetel in Busan. If I run the aircon like 5-6 hours a day any idea how much the bill would be? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Threequalseven
Joined: 08 May 2012
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 3:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Minimal. Koreans pay less than cost for electricity. I think it's to incentivise industrial output. It's also part of the reason their power plants are at max capacity now. That said, relax. Cool down. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fezmond
Joined: 27 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
Shouldn't be too much.
I run mine 6-7 hours a day and the bill last month was 41,000. That's sharing electricity bills with the next door neighbours too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Threequalseven wrote: |
| Minimal. Koreans pay less than cost for electricity. I think it's to incentivise industrial output. It's also part of the reason their power plants are at max capacity now. That said, relax. Cool down. |
I wish this were my experience. Compared to the US, electricity here is freaking expensive.
When I lived in an officetel, my normal electricity bills were about 50,000 per month. This was the price when it wasn't summer time, making sure I turned lights off when not in use, doing laundry once a week without using the dryer, etc. My officetel was 12 actual pyeong (18 listed pyong).
During the summer, my electricity bills were about 200,000 per month. This was under the same circumstances except I ran the air conditioner about 2-3 hours per day. I cannot imagine running it for 6-7 hours per day. If you recall, officetels are no longer entitled to the business level pricing structure which used to save them a lot on utilities. This ended a couple of years ago.
In the US, the bill in my 1200 sq. ft. apt (about 33 actual pyong, 3x bigger) would be about $100/mo. in the summer, and that's running the air con 24/7 at 23 degrees. It was about the same temp. outside there as Seoul is here in the summer. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
maximmm
Joined: 01 Feb 2008
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
| War Eagle wrote: |
| Threequalseven wrote: |
| Minimal. Koreans pay less than cost for electricity. I think it's to incentivise industrial output. It's also part of the reason their power plants are at max capacity now. That said, relax. Cool down. |
I wish this were my experience. Compared to the US, electricity here is freaking expensive.
When I lived in an officetel, my normal electricity bills were about 50,000 per month. This was the price when it wasn't summer time, making sure I turned lights off when not in use, doing laundry once a week without using the dryer, etc. My officetel was 12 actual pyeong (18 listed pyong).
During the summer, my electricity bills were about 200,000 per month. This was under the same circumstances except I ran the air conditioner about 2-3 hours per day. I cannot imagine running it for 6-7 hours per day. If you recall, officetels are no longer entitled to the business level pricing structure which used to save them a lot on utilities. This ended a couple of years ago.
In the US, the bill in my 1200 sq. ft. apt (about 33 actual pyong, 3x bigger) would be about $100/mo. in the summer, and that's running the air con 24/7 at 23 degrees. It was about the same temp. outside there as Seoul is here in the summer. |
It seems to me that everyone's experience seems to differ in regards to officetels.
I've lived in many officetels, and I too had to pay quite a bit during summer/winter seasons for the heating/AC. In fact, the communal pay structure often led me to pay the same 200K Won even when I was away for a month. As such, turning the AC on 24/7 or having it on 2-3 hours a day made little difference - I've always ended up paying a bundle, so these days I do keep it on all the time (unless I'm not home). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Deja
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Something is definitely wrong there. Either you split costs, or someone latches onto your electric bill.
Mine, during winter is barely 20.000KRW, and I find that to be high (it's only the dish washer that uses some electricity during winter, everything else is on gas - no TV, lights are barely a consumer, and neither is a laptop).
Consider that an A/C will not use much power in Korea (it doesn't need to pull out much heat, but rather to keep the place dry - as opposed to say Greece/Egypt/India  ), and that 10cents is an average kW. The A/C uses way under 1kW/h average, so even 24/7, it would not be over 72$. 5hr/day, *30 = 15$.
Anything beyond that (for A/C only!) and you're either getting ripped off for the electricity cost, or you got a leecher (not impossible). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Lazio
Joined: 15 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 7:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Deja wrote: |
10cents is an average kW. The A/C uses way under 1kW/h average, so even 24/7, it would not be over 72$. 5hr/day, *30 = 15$.
Anything beyond that (for A/C only!) and you're either getting ripped off for the electricity cost, or you got a leecher (not impossible). |
Don’t you know that the electricity rates are tiered? Between 0-100 kWh one kilowatt costs 59.1 won while 301-400kWh one unit costs 273.2 won. If you use your A/C a lot it is very easy to hit 300 and just a little more usage will double your bill. Once you hit 400 or 500 kWh it gets insanely expensive.
150kWh is 14,690 Krw
250kWh – 32,820 Krw
350kWh- 61,250 Krw |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Lazio wrote: |
| Deja wrote: |
10cents is an average kW. The A/C uses way under 1kW/h average, so even 24/7, it would not be over 72$. 5hr/day, *30 = 15$.
Anything beyond that (for A/C only!) and you're either getting ripped off for the electricity cost, or you got a leecher (not impossible). |
Don’t you know that the electricity rates are tiered? Between 0-100 kWh one kilowatt costs 59.1 won while 301-400kWh one unit costs 273.2 won. If you use your A/C a lot it is very easy to hit 300 and just a little more usage will double your bill. Once you hit 400 or 500 kWh it gets insanely expensive.
150kWh is 14,690 Krw
250kWh – 32,820 Krw
350kWh- 61,250 Krw |
Exactly.
My wife saves every single bill we get. I don't know why but it has given me the chance to look at my bills from my officetel a couple years ago. Here it is:
A November bill: 275 kWh = 24,690 (less than the 50,000 I quoted above)
A July bill: 570 kWh = 179,930
For using 2x the electricity, you pay 7x more!! That's just freaking ridiculous.
So, that's 150,000 a month for running the air con 2-3 hours per day, on a typical day. Usage would be more on the weekends of course. And I'm talking about one of those small wall-mounted air cons. I'm sure it wasn't energy star rated and probably used more electric than a more efficient one would.
EDIT: I lived in an upscale, newish building. I'm sure no one was leeching off my electric.
Last edited by War Eagle on Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:19 pm; edited 2 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| It can also depend on the AC unit. A more efficient unit will cost less to run than some old junky model. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| dairyairy wrote: |
| It can also depend on the AC unit. A more efficient unit will cost less to run than some old junky model. |
Yup.
I edited my post up there with this info, but I'll just post it here:
A typical new 10 pyeong air con uses:
min.: 1330 watts
max: 4000 watts
So, if we assume an average of 2500 watts (2.5kW) and times that by OP's 5 hours per day we get 12.5 kWh per day. Times this by 30 and you have 375 kWh a month. Add on normal usage of 200-300kWh and you're at about 600 kWh total a month. That could easily be a 200,000+ bill.
Of course, this is just speculation with average numbers and actual results will vary. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Even things like keeping the filter clean can help. It all adds up this time of year. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
greene
Joined: 11 Dec 2008
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
10 pyeong oneroom
i run my air con all weekend long and about 12 hours a day during the week
last month's electricty bill was under 40k |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Deja
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 1:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="War Eagle"]
That's cooling CAPACITY (expressed in common SI unit Watts), not the power consumption.
I just talked about this on a tech forum last month - no aircon should ever use 4kW of electricity for a flat, except for a split system total (or several AC units together).
Last year, back home, mid August, 35-40*C outside temperature, new flat 90m2, has NOT been cooled that summer. I turned the A/C units to cool it to 21*C and keep it cool for 24 hours. Total power consumption 40kWh. That's 4 internal units, on a split system (single outside unit).
That's less than 2kW/h for 4 units total, 9000BTU each. But that's to cool down a flat from >35*C that was not cooled ever. To keep a place cool, it takes a lot less.
On the tiered electicity bills, frankly, I didn't know it increases like that in Korea (in the UK it's the opposite) in all cases? (i.e. all apartments) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Deja wrote: |
That's cooling CAPACITY (expressed in common SI unit Watts), not the power consumption.
I just talked about this on a tech forum last month - no aircon should ever use 4kW of electricity for a flat, except for a split system total (or several AC units together).
Last year, back home, mid August, 35-40*C outside temperature, new flat 90m2, has NOT been cooled that summer. I turned the A/C units to cool it to 21*C and keep it cool for 24 hours. Total power consumption 40kWh. That's 4 internal units, on a split system (single outside unit).
That's less than 2kW/h for 4 units total, 9000BTU each. But that's to cool down a flat from >35*C that was not cooled ever. To keep a place cool, it takes a lot less.
On the tiered electicity bills, frankly, I didn't know it increases like that in Korea (in the UK it's the opposite) in all cases? (i.e. all apartments) |
Ok cool. I just read up on Energy Efficiency Ratios and how that relates to power consumption vs cooling capacity. Thanks, you helped me learn something It does however, go back to the Energy Star Rating and how efficient the unit is, correct? So a unit that is not very efficient could have an EER ratio closer to, but not actually, 1:1?
Then, it amazes me though how my bills showed 300 kWh extra usage for the summer months when I really don't remember running the a/c more than a few hours per day. I guess I can blame it on a highly inefficient unit. Couple this with Korea's tiered usage system and it really does pay to have a good engery rated unit. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Seoulman69
Joined: 14 Dec 2009
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I usually get hit with 200,000won bills over summer. I use the aircon a lot. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
