Korean Job Discussion Forums

Dev · Joined: 18 Apr 2006

I just got billed by the gas company 60,000 won for 3 weeks of gas (I was out of town for a week last month, so that's why I say 3 weeks). I never run the heating system and really just use gas for hot water. Is such a high bill realistically possible?

venus · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Near Seoul

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

Dev · Joined: 18 Apr 2006

poet13 · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:48 pm Post subject:

I live in an apartment too, middle floor, middle of the hall. Turned everything except the ref off before I took two weeks out of country. Came back to a toasty apartment, and a couple of days ago, a 99,000 won gas bill. Now it could be from January I suppose, but for two of those weeks, I was also out of town doing a camp. Grrrr.

reconhottie · Joined: 03 Jan 2007

Yeah, it is about right. We had a 110,000 won bill for January
I was told that when gas consumption goes up during cold months, so does the price

kalkamagi · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Location: Seoul

i had a 66,000 WATER bill last month. when we first moved in to our officetel, it was about 10-15K.

Seriously, does anyone know what would cause this discrepancy? Is it hot water that costs more to heat during winter or something?

-taking showers in the gym from now on.

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

venus · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Near Seoul

bjonothan · Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Location: All over the place

In the cold Korean winters, I used to get bills as high as 180,000 won. Mind you it felt like you were in an Aussie summer inside all the time. So, 60 grand is nothing...

Fresh Prince · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: The glorious nation of Korea

Fresh Prince · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: The glorious nation of Korea

OP: Like the other posters mentioned, a lot of places will bill you a month late or more. FYI, I just paid 100,000 for a gas bill. I didn't like it but I consider it fair since I had the heat cranked up pretty high whenever I was home.

Where I live, the Koreans mostly use electric blankets and turn the heat down at night.

huffdaddy · Joined: 25 Nov 2005

yingwenlaoshi · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Location: ... location, location!

60,000 Won for 3 weeks is too much for a regular apartment if you're only using the boiler for hot water by turning it off an on. Really cheap if you're using your ondol at night. If you're leavingt the boiler on in hot water (not ondol heating) mode then I would say your bill is spot on.

My bill is over 110,000 for last month and I was using the ondol from 9:30 pm to 1:30 pm every day. Probably longer than that on average during the weekends. Kept the temperature at 21 Celcius (this makes a huge difference - last year, I kept it much higher, but I think it was colder last year).

If you're definitely only using the boiler for hot water, then it should only cost you around 20,000 if memory severs me correct. But if you left it on and only used it for hot water, that's a different story. Turning it off and on saves. Leaving it on in hot water mode will cost you more.