Korean Job Discussion Forums

[taobenli]

I have had the air con going A LOT since about mid-July. In mid-July I was in the last few weeks of pregnancy and home a lot. The first week of August I was away, and the second week mainly in the hospital- then since mid-August I've been home again with the air con on. It's usually on 25 or 26 degrees- it's frustrating because we've tried putting the fan on at night and leaving windows open, but even when it's not that hot at night the humidity leads to me, my husband and my newborn baby (and that's the clincher) sweating and suffering. So the air con has stayed on. Any estimates on daily/weekly/monthly costs of doing this these days? We have a three-bedroom apartment but leave the doors of the bedrooms closed during the day, and just our bedroom door open to get air at night. No matter how much it costs I guess it's worth it to me, just trying to anticipate the damage...

[mmstyle]

My 3 room apt cost 40k won for the month. We ran it pretty constantly, including a good chunk at night.

[Swampfox10mm]

mmstyle must be in a villa. Electricity is much cheaper rated for villas. We lived in a Samsung Ramien 35 pyung 3br apt last year and had a peak electric bill of 230,000 in the hottest month. And no, we didn't run it all of the time. Current place is maybe 16 to 18 pyung and cost half that last month. I once had a one room villa with a 4 pyung aircon unit that I ran constantly. That was 5 years ago and it cost me 35,000 for a month. Now that would be 50,000. I have a feeling mmstyle will be getting a big bill next month.

Prices go up exponentially once you meet a certain usage amount. If you are going to be there a few years get a cheap 4 pyung aircon just for the baby's room. They are cheap to run.

[tortugaverde]

Ours was just 65 dollars for the month of August. We ran the AC and fans almost constantly. However, our apartment is a SUPER small two bedroom. Babies do sweat a in general though while sleeping ... same with husbands

[DaHu]

There is no correct answer and no way to gauge this.

Depends if other people are siphoning off of you, or you're sharing costs. People sometimes mention huge bills when they've been gone for a month using nothing.

[chrisinkorea2011]

[Underwaterbob]

Seven years here, and I've never really understood my electricity bill. It has always wildly varied. Some butterfly flapping its wings in South America I imagine.

I live in a house now, with no immediate neighbours, running more and larger appliances than ever before and my electricity bills are cheaper than they ever were in several different apartments and one-rooms. Take that as you will... (I'm inclined to believe that my three previous landlords were all ripping everyone in the buildings off, which might also explain the aforementioned variance.)

Anyway, be sure your air-conditioner is in good shape. Forcing air through clogged filters or bent pipes takes a lot of power. That's about all you can do; you have little control over the power company's billing procedure or your landlord's potentially shady practices.

[mmstyle]

[Swampfox10mm]

mmstyle: Villa would be what I'd call a stand-alone building where a family might live on one floor, or a few per floor, and be about 1 to 3 floors high.

An apartment building, to me, would be something larger than that -- typically much larger, such as one of the tall multiplex apartments with company names on the outside: Samsung Ramien, Doosan We've, Hyundai Hillstate, Prugio, etc. We were in a Samsung Ramien before.

[mmstyle]

Can someone tell me how an officetel is different from other buildings here? Thanks swampfox. I've never understood the way they refer to things here, even after 5 years.

My place is one of those 4-5 story apartment buildings. No place for a family all on one floor.

[FDNY]

You guys must have pint sized aircons, because my bill was 300,000 for the month. We have a central cooling unit which feeds machines in two rooms. We had it on most of the time.

[akcrono]

Yea, my bill was around 200k for a villa apartment. My electricity bills continue to baffle me. Is there any way I can figure out why my bills are so high?

[pkang0202]

[weso1]

I have a large one room officetel. I ran the aircon 24/7 in July. Bill was 250,000