Facts in this guide were verified in October 2026 against the MEA and PEA tariff pages, the EGAT Ft notice, the MWA water tariff, the Royal Gazette text of the Contract Committee's residential-lease notification B.E. 2568, OCPB notices and the official price pages of True, AIS/3BB and NT. This is not legal, tax or financial advice; check your own bill and lease.
Contents
- The three ways your bills can be set up
- The official electricity tariff, September–December 2026
- Why buildings charge ฿5–9 a unit, and is it allowed?
- Water: MWA tiers vs building rates
- Internet: providers, prices and what to check
- What should a studio, one-bed or two-bed pay?
- How do I read my meter and dispute a bill?
- What to put in the contract
- The common fee is the owner's cost
- Where ElefyMove fits (and where it doesn't)
- Sources
On a direct MEA or PEA meter a Thai condo pays ฿3 a unit for the first 200 units and ฿4.16–4.36 above that, plus Ft and 7% VAT; buildings re-billing through sub-meters commonly charge a flat ฿6–9. Water is cheap; fibre costs ฿500–900 a month.
Which you pay depends on the meter set-up, not your usage. For rent see our Bangkok rental prices guide.
The three ways your bills can be set up
First find out who issues the bill; the set-up matters more than the building.
1. A direct provider meter in your name or the owner's
Most condo units have their own MEA (Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan) or PEA (elsewhere) meter and an MWA or PWA water account. You pay the published tariff, the ฿3 band applies automatically, and you can call MEA 1130 or PEA 1129 if a bill looks wrong. Cheapest and most transparent.
2. A building sub-meter billed by the juristic office or landlord
Older apartment blocks and some serviced buildings re-bill each room from one master meter at a flat rate:
- ฿6–8 a unit (BAANLYY, July 2026);
- ฿6–9 (DDA Real Estate);
- ฿5–8 (Superagent, May 2026);
- a median of ฿7.0 in a July 2026 CapSolar survey of 400 listings, with 251 of 254 posted rates above ฿4.88.
Water commonly runs ฿18–25 per m³ (BAANLYY; CapSolar's median is ฿18). The ฿3 band belongs to the account holder's meter: CapSolar notes that many master meters are small-business accounts, so a sub-metered tenant only sees the cut if the landlord passes it on.
3. A landlord re-billing a direct meter
The owner forwards the provider's bill; done honestly it costs what set-up 1 costs. Insist on a copy of the provider's bill each month: landlords within the Contract Committee's notification (three or more units, below) must let you check the data behind a charge; with a private owner, write that into the contract.
The official electricity tariff, September–December 2026
A residential bill has four parts: a progressive energy charge per unit (kWh), a monthly service charge, the Ft surcharge and 7% VAT. MEA and PEA publish the same schedule, effective from the September 2026 (B.E. 2569) bill.
Type 1.1 (MEA) / 1.1.1 (PEA) covers homes using up to 150 units a month, Type 1.2 / 1.1.2 those using more. Per PEA's notes, a meter above 5 A is on the higher type from the start, and a small meter (5 A or less) moves up after three consecutive months above 150 units, so an air-conditioned condo will almost always be Type 1.2.
| Units per month | Type 1.1 / 1.1.1 (up to 150 units) | Type 1.2 / 1.1.2 (over 150 units) |
|---|---|---|
| 1–15 | ฿2.3488 | ฿3.0000 |
| 16–25 | ฿2.9882 | ฿3.0000 |
| 26–200 | ฿3.0000 | ฿3.0000 |
| 201–400 | ฿4.1584 | ฿4.1584 |
| 401 and above | ฿4.3583 | ฿4.3583 |
| Monthly service charge | ฿8.19 | ฿24.62 |
Source: MEA and PEA, checked October 2026; excludes Ft and VAT.
The Ft is a flat per-unit surcharge the ERC resets every four months. For September–December 2026 it is 16.23 satang (฿0.1623) per unit excluding VAT, set by the ERC on 22 July 2026 and published in EGAT's Ft notice; PEA's statistics show 9.72 satang for January–April 2026 and 16.23 for May–August.
The bands date from the ERC's resolution of 5 August 2026. Per the government PRD release of 14 August, it capped the first 200 units at ฿3 and removed the ฿0.0634-a-unit public-lighting cost from the 201+ unit bands (฿4.2218 to ฿4.1584, and ฿4.4217 to ฿4.3583).
The release's ฿3.86 "average tariff" (down from ฿3.95) covers all customer types; it is not a household rate.
Why buildings charge ฿5–9 a unit, and is it allowed?
The flat rate exists because the master meter is often a business account and the operator absorbs Ft, VAT, service charge and common-area load. Whether it is allowed depends on the Contract Committee's notification.
The notification making residential building leasing a contract-controlled business, B.E. 2568, was published in the Royal Gazette (volume 142, special part 211 ง, page 80) on 6 June 2025 and took effect on 4 September 2025, according to Tilleke & Gibbins, replacing the 2019 version. It covers anyone letting rooms, houses, condo units or apartments to natural persons with three or more rental units; Dormitory Act dormitories and hotels are excluded.
For those landlords it prohibits a lease term setting electricity or water rates above what the providers charge the business. Its standard form must state utility rates and the calculation method at signing, lets rates move only when the provider's do, requires invoices at least three days before the due date, and lets the tenant check the data behind charges. Tilleke & Gibbins say breaches can be an offence under the Consumer Protection Act: up to a year's imprisonment, a fine up to ฿200,000, or both.
The ฿4.88 figure is not in the Gazette text. Since 20 November 2025 OCPB has used "not exceeding 4.88 baht per unit" as its enforcement reference under the government's Quick Big Win drive, and its 22 December 2025 notice bans added service charges or profit margins. Its derivation is unpublished: treat it as OCPB's working ceiling, not a statutory rate.
A private owner letting one or two condos is outside the notification, so verify for your contract and write the rate in. The notification's deposit and advance-rent limits, deposit-return deadlines and complaint routes are covered in our Thailand rental law guide.
Water: MWA tiers vs building rates
MWA's residential (Type 1) tariff, unchanged since December 1999, charges ฿8.50 per m³ for the first 30 m³ with a ฿45 minimum, rising in steps to ฿14.45 above 200 m³, before VAT; a half-inch meter adds a ฿25 monthly service charge. The 5–20 m³ rows are our assumption for one or two people.
| Monthly use | MWA direct meter (฿8.50/m³ + ฿25 service + 7% VAT, our arithmetic) | Building at ฿18/m³ | Building at ฿25/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 m³ | ≈฿75 (฿45 minimum applies) | ฿90 | ฿125 |
| 10 m³ | ≈฿118 | ฿180 | ฿250 |
| 20 m³ | ≈฿209 | ฿360 | ฿500 |
Buildings commonly re-bill at ฿18–25 per unit or a fixed fee (CapSolar survey: median ฿18; DDA Real Estate puts a typical monthly water bill at roughly ฿100–300). Superagent quotes ฿40–80 per m³ without a method. Outside MWA's area the PWA tariff applies, which we could not verify from a primary source.
Internet: providers, prices and what to check
Three groups supply home fibre: AIS Fibre (including 3BB), True Online and state-owned NT. Prices checked October 2026:
| Package | AIS / 3BB (official 3BB page, excl. VAT) | True Online (official page) | NT (secondary comparison, Aug 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500/500 Mbps | ฿600 (12-month) or ฿500 (24-month) | ฿599–899 (24-month) | ฿455 |
| 1 Gbps / 500 Mbps | ฿700 (12-month) or ฿600 (24-month) | not listed | ฿605 |
| 1 / 1 Gbps | ฿1,200 | not listed (see note) | ฿805 |
Note: True's page lists only 500/500 Mbps packages and advertises a "this September only" promotion upgrading them to 1000/1000 Mbps for 12 months; check whether it is still running before you rely on it.
NT publishes no prices (contact centre 1888); its column comes from Thailand Starter Kit (August 2026). Budget ฿500–900 a month plus VAT where excluded.
"Free installation" is deferred, not free. According to AIS's FAQ, a ฿800 entry fee (VAT included) is paid in cash on installation day, and the ฿4,800 installation charge is waived only after 12 billing cycles, repaid pro rata if you leave earlier.
The sources disagree on that condition. 3BB's BROADBAND24 terms put the same ฿4,800 on the first bill and waive it only after a continuous 24-month billing cycle; they refund the ฿800 at ฿100 a month over eight bills and require equipment back at an AIS shop within 15 days. Check the condition on your own package before signing. True does not state its installation fee.
- Building wiring: ask the juristic office which networks are installed and whether it must approve a new cable or sign off on the appointment (Thailand Starter Kit; true-fiber.com reseller guide).
- Documents: no official provider page we found lists requirements for foreigners; dealers ask for a passport, a work permit or non-immigrant visa, your lease and a Thai mobile number; one AIS dealer says a tourist visa is not accepted.
- Term and exit: 12- or 24-month terms are standard; match them to your lease or keep the landlord's line. Installs take 3–7 days, according to the reseller guide.
What should a studio, one-bed or two-bed pay?
Usage rows are our assumptions; no official per-home data exists. For scale, the Chiang Rai Times (September 2026) puts a 12,000 BTU air-conditioner at 0.9–1.3 kWh an hour, so one unit run eight hours a night uses roughly 220–310 units a month by itself.
The direct column is our arithmetic from the Type 1.2 bands, Ft ฿0.1623, service charge and 7% VAT; the building column uses a flat ฿7.
| Home and usage (assumption) | Units per month | Direct MEA/PEA meter | Building sub-meter at ฿7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio, light (fan mostly) | 100 | ≈฿365 (≈฿337 only on a small Type 1.1 meter of 5 A or less) | ฿700 |
| Studio, moderate (AC nightly) | 200 | ≈฿703 | ฿1,400 |
| Studio, heavy (AC day and night) | 300 | ≈฿1,165 | ฿2,100 |
| One-bed, moderate (AC nightly) | 300 | ≈฿1,165 | ฿2,100 |
| One-bed, heavy (two AC units) | 450 | ≈฿1,870 | ฿3,150 |
| Two-bed, moderate | 500 | ≈฿2,111 | ฿3,500 |
| Two-bed, heavy (hot season) | 700 | ≈฿3,079 | ฿4,900 |
Add water (฿75–210 on MWA, ฿90–500 in a building) and internet (฿500–900). Guide sites agree: DDA puts a one-bed with moderate air-con at ฿1,200–2,500 and ฿3,000–5,000 in hot-season heavy use; BAANLYY ฿1,000–2,500; Superagent's readers about ฿1,500 for a single studio and ฿3,000 for a couple in a two-bed. CapSolar's worked examples match ours at 300 and 500 units. For the rest of the monthly budget, see our renting in Thailand guide.
How do I read my meter and dispute a bill?
Units used = this month's reading minus last month's. Photograph the meter, serial number visible, on the same day each month from move-in, and compare with the invoice. On a sub-meter, ask for the master bill and the split.
Provider bill wrong (direct meter): call MEA 1130 or PEA 1129. Legardy's consumer guide (August 2026) describes the formal route: a written objection and meter-inspection request at the local office (keep the receipt number), then the ERC; pay under written protest if needed to avoid disconnection.
Landlord or building overcharging: following CapSolar's guide and OCPB's own channels:
- Photograph the meter on two consecutive months and keep the lease clause and bills.
- Write to the landlord first.
- File with OCPB on 1166, the OCPB Connect app, LINE @ocpbconnect or complaint.ocpb.go.th (free); Damrongdhama 1567 can inspect on site.
- Keep paying the undisputed part; withholding everything can put you in breach.
Beyond OCPB, recourse is a civil claim.
What to put in the contract
The 2568 standard form is a good checklist even if your landlord is not bound by it. Ask for:
- The electricity and water rate per unit and the calculation method ("MEA/PEA tariff as billed" or a flat rate stated to include Ft and VAT).
- Whose name the accounts are in, and a copy of the provider's bill each month.
- Rates change only when the provider changes them (the standard form's wording).
- Invoices at least three days before the due date.
- Meter readings photographed at move-in and move-out in the handover record, alongside photos of the unit's condition.
- Internet: whether a line is included, provider and speed, who holds the contract and who pays an early exit.
- Deposit timing: for landlords in scope, the standard form says 7 days with no damage, 14 days where repair deductions apply.
The common fee is the owner's cost
Under Section 18 of the Condominium Act, as summarised by ThaiLawOnline and Tilleke & Gibbins, each co-owner pays the juristic person common expenses by ownership ratio, in practice per square metre; the obligation follows the unit, not the tenant. Indicative rates run from tens of baht to over ฿100 per m² a month, set by the AGM budget. If a lease passes the fee to you, treat it as rent negotiation, not a utility.
Where ElefyMove fits (and where it doesn't)
ElefyMove is a long-term rental platform for furnished apartments and condos in Thailand. A landlord's identity and property ownership are verified before a listing goes live, and landlords can request an optional staff review of photos and condition for a verified badge. The written rental contract is signed through the platform, so the clauses above can go into it. Rent is paid through the platform (Stripe for cards and Thai PromptPay QR, PayPal as an alternative), with ElefyMove as the landlord's payment collection agent.
Utility rates come from the provider, building or landlord, not ElefyMove. The landlord holds the deposit; ElefyMove does not hold deposits. Tenancy Records is an optional evidence record (move-in and move-out handover photos, condition reports, damage reports with a defined reporting window) so landlord and tenant can settle any disagreement directly between themselves; ElefyMove never decides, judges or settles disputes. See the Thailand rental law guide, the renting in Thailand guide and, with questions before paying anything, our FAQ.
Sources
Primary (official)
- MEA residential tariff — bands, service charges
- PEA tariff 2569 (PDF) — bands, meter rules
- PEA Ft statistics — 2569 history
- EGAT Ft notice Sep–Dec 2569 — 16.23 satang
- PRD, 14 Aug 2569 — ERC resolution
- MWA water tariffs — residential tiers, ฿45 minimum
- MWA service rates — meter service charge
- Royal Gazette vol. 142, special part 211 ง, p. 80 — notification B.E. 2568
- Gazette text, municipal mirror (fallback)
- OCPB, 20 Nov 2568 — complaint channels
- OCPB, 22 Dec 2568 — ฿4.88 reference, no margins
- True Online — packages, promotion
- 3BB package page — prices, BROADBAND24 fees
- AIS Fibre FAQ — ฿800 and ฿4,800 fees
- NT Broadband — speeds, 1888
Secondary (advisory and guide sites, identified as such in the text)
- Tilleke & Gibbins via Mondaq — threshold, penalties
- Thairath, 20 Nov 2568 — ฿4.88 announcement
- The Nation — MEA call centre 1130
- CapSolar survey — building rates
- CapSolar — the ฿3 band and sub-metered tenants
- CapSolar — worked bills
- CapSolar — reporting an overcharging landlord
- BAANLYY — building rates, one-bed bills
- DDA Real Estate — rates, bill ranges
- Superagent — reader bills
- Chiang Rai Times — air-conditioner kWh per hour
- Thailand Starter Kit — provider comparison, condo wiring
- AIS Fibre dealer — documents for foreigners
- true-fiber.com reseller — sign-off, install time
- Legardy — disputing a bill
- ThaiLawOnline — common area fees, Condominium Act
- Tilleke & Gibbins — common-fee obligation
Disclaimer: this article is general information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice. ElefyMove is a long-term rental platform, not a law firm, utility or regulator; verify with MEA (1130), PEA (1129), MWA, the OCPB (1166), the provider's current price page and a licensed Thai lawyer for your own contract.