Korean Job Discussion Forums

[s.tickbeat]

So I know that gas is expensive in Korea. When winter set in (in my region it's apparently the coldest winter in 97 years) I went on a total campaign to keep my gas use to minimum.

I have a two-room apartment (living room, bedroom), and we are two people. We turn the gas off when we leave for work except when we are drying laundry on the ondol. During the day when we're home, it's on to about 17 C; at night when we sleep it's on to about 8 or 10 C. We definitely don't leave the hot water on, and we certainly don't leave it running. Yet, somehow we have a $400.00 gas bill.

Where is this coming from? Last month it was $250 which seemed more reasonable. I am shocked by this bill. Any ideas?

[Skippy]

Who is the bill provided by? Gas company, school, apartment management. I have heard that some apartment buildings will do an average for bills. So if they have 10 people they will split a huge bill 10 ways. So if somebody is really using gas it can be you covering another persons use.

[L&MaC's]

Thats weird.

I leave my gas on 24/7 with the heat turned right up and the hot water always on during winter and my gas bill is only 120,000won per month.

You either have a faulty system - gas leaking somewhere or you are paying the gas bill for 5 other apartments.

[s.tickbeat]

I get the bill straight from the gas company. I sneaked a peak at the other bills for the building, and they're between 70 000 W and 200 000 W. Maybe I do have a gas leak? I'm definitely going to have a Korean friend call the company ASAP. I JUST finishes paying a bill for 266 000 W.

[Skippy]

Do you actually keep the wall unit on and just turn the temperature up and down or do you turn off the unit when not in use? Me I turn on and off. I rarely dick with the settings and modes.

[3DR]

They're ripping you off. I had this same problem last year. Small studio apartment, yet somehow the bill was coming out to 300 or 400 K a month. And this was with a long vacation out of the country.

This year, I have a 2 room family apartment. I leave the heat on blast when I'm home, and turn it down when I leave. The bill is around 100k

[Troglodyte]

Wow! I've never paid anywhere near 400k for gas, even in the middle of winter. Last winter in January and February I was paying about 200k a month but I was in a really spacious apartment that didn't seem to be insulated. I was turning it off during the day while I was at work, but at night and the whole morning, I had it on a medium to high setting.

If your neighbors are all paying less than 100k for gas you can be sure that there's a problem somewhere. Koreans like to keep their apartments hot during the winter. Unless you like the tropical feeling, they're probably using more gas than you. Either someone is scamming you or there's some faulty equipment. I don't think there would be a gas leak. You'd know about that because your apartment would burst into flames when you flicked on the light switch. (I heard about it plenty when I was in Japan, and I'd guess that it happens here from time to time as well.) But maybe the heater isn't working right, or maybe the meter isn't recording correctly. Who knows. From what you've written though, I'd say that for sure something is wrong. Get it checked out.

[orosee]

[Skyblue]

And you actually paid the 400 K?

[brier]

Are you using city gas lines, or do they hook up a replacable tank and you feed off that? If it is the delivered canister style, yeah, that stuff is super expensive and you might well have a 400k bill. Long a ago I lived in a shoe box sized one room, that used delivered gas in canisters, I got a bill of about 130k for January and I was shocked.

Move.

[Weigookin74]

Yeah move! Sounds like an old building. Many Koreans don't always crank their heat. SOme use heating blankets and portable heaters. Newer buildings, built within the past 5 years, ought to have western style energy efficiency. I'm in a large one room in a two year old building and my gas bill was 60,000 last month. This is with the heat turned on to my comfort level; no freezing here. But, in the past, living in an old building, the cannister system cost me double that and the place wasn't even very warm. I briefly lived in a bigger place a year ago and it used electricity. Got a 400,000 won bill for electric heating. That was pure BS. Local ed office wouldn't help, so I moved to another city and got my own place. Took the subsidy; never looked back!

[Troglodyte]

[nomad-ish]

Last years gas bills totally pissed me off- at one point, I was paying a little over 200,000 won for a tiny studio loft apartment. So this year, I've made a point of never turning on my ondol and only turning on my water heater during my shower. Instead I use an electric blanket and heater, and have easily saved money this year and it seems warmer in my apartment.

You might want to consider using a couple electric heaters in your apartment instead. You can buy cheap ones on GMarket- I believe mine cost about 10,000 won.

[Globutron]

80,000 won for permanent usage of heating at full temperature (and then i turn it off when Im dying of sweat and heat... I figure its the most economic way to do it)

400$ is like... 3 times what all my bills cost combined... where on earth are you?
Gotta be a gas leak

[sligo]

I had a similar problem a few years back. I never have my heating on. Living on the 14th floor means that all the people below me with their heating on all day allows my apartment to be the lower end of comfortable all the time. Team this with a pair of warm socks, and i am quite comfortable. I digress. I had a bill a couple of years ago, and it read 75,000W, then the next month 150,000W. i couldn't understand it, (nor could the Koreans understand that i never have heating on), but i looked at the back of the bill, and it breaks down the information, it also gives the address being billed. They were sending the bill to my apartment but quoting the gas usage of a different apartment. The next month, my 3 month gas charge was about 20,000W.

Checj the back of the bill, to see which addtress is being chrged.