Korean Job Discussion Forums

maddog · Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Location: Daegu

My electricity bills are typically between 20-30K, which my co-worker reckons is high. Last month's (July) bill was 43,000 won. This seemed very high, but I put it down to the heat and using the air-con more often. August's bill, which I got today, was an astonishing 98,000 won!!!

I am very careful about switching things off when i leave the my apartment, so I can safely say that I haven't left anything swithced on while I've been out. Even if I had gone to work one day and left the air-con switched on, it wouldn't make that much difference.

Do any of you reckon there's a chance that someone in my apt building has somehow re-routed electricity from my meter.

I should add that i was in Thailand for week in August. Just to re-iterate, I did not leave anything switched on during that time.

I have never heard of an electricity bill this high.

denverdeath · Joined: 21 May 2005 Location: Boo-sahn

I envy you. Mine was 280,000 for the month of July...a bit lower than last year though, so I'm not overly disappointed.

kermo · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:14 am Post subject:

Maybe your payments are not being received and they're just adding up, accumulating penalties? Get someone to look closely at the bill, and phone the company to inquire if necessary. Maybe it's their mistake.

Winter Martyrium · Joined: 31 Mar 2006

Everyone at my school has the same 'sticker shock' over our electricity bills. So maybe it is a trend? Or an unrecognizable change in the billing system?

Mine shot from 30,000 to 77,000 $

Wow, I could've sworn I ran the A.C. for the exact same amount...
Around 1$ per day, it used to be...now over 2$? wow!
oh well,, whatever,,,please be quiet and pay up says our manager,,,summertime A.C. and all that.....While some roommate co-workers had their bill go from 30,000 something to 230,000 something!! Ouch!!

I wish I understood the change clearly. I can only guess that prices have went up!? I thought it was only our little group complaining!

Junior · Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Location: the eye

Be sure that you got the right bill. Very often they stick them in the wrong boxes.

and i'm sure your appartment manager isn't above fiddling the bills to pass off his non-paying Korean fees onto the clueless weyguk.

denverdeath · Joined: 21 May 2005 Location: Boo-sahn

The meter lady's the one who showed me the amt on the meter...she also insisted on calling my wife to verify that she knew the amt we'd get on our bill. I gave the lady exclamations of "expensive!" and "jin-jjah?!?" and the like. We always know that things will be more expensive in June, July, and August due to the running of the a/c. My wife explained to me before something about the rate per hour skyrocketing after 300Kw hours or sth like that. Anyway, I was a little happy that the bill was about 50-60,000 less than the same period for last year.

Lizara · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Seoul

Yeah... the bill I got today was 130000. It's the first bill I've had in this apartment, so it's hard to know if it's normal, and I did use the AC a lot... but at my last place I don't think I paid that much for four months, and I used AC quite a lot there too in the summer.

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

Of course floor space has no major direct impact on electricity consumption unless you're trying to heat or air-condition the entire home and every room in it. But I'm surprised by the bills some posters are reporting -- over 200,000 won? So I'll ask, how large a place are we talking about? It just doesn't seem likely that relatively smaller, well-insulated homes, where no-one's at home during much of the day, would consume that much power.

And I have to say that, given my experience, which is not inconsiderable, foul play is definitely responsible in most cases mentioned in this thread. You know, there are gangs that go around breaking into foreigners' homes and jacking the A/C for a few hours every day. They laugh at the police and their fruitless efforts to capture them.

Boodleheimer · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:20 am Post subject:

ontheway · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:28 am Post subject: The penalty system:

Korea's electric billing system has a series of penalties built in. That is probably the reason you see jumps in your bills that seem to exceed your increased usage. When you use more electricity you can reach penalty levels. At these points your electric RATE increases. Thus, small increases in usage can see your bill jump to much higher rates per KWH and so the total amount of the bill jumps.

There are several penalty levels built in. That is why people tend to use gas and oil for almost everything: heat, hot water, cooking etc.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Lizara · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Seoul

Soooo... maybe this is asking too much, but does anyone know what exactly these penalty levels are, and roughly what sort of usage that translates to? I mean, what's a normal amount of energy to use for an apartment (taking things like aircon, how much you're home, the size of the apartment, etc... into consideration)? I realize it's going to be vastly different for everyone, but I'd like some kind of feel for how much I can get away with...

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Lizara · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Seoul

Tiberious aka Sparkles · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: I'm one cool cat!