Electric bill scam? Hoi An expat resident

3POSTS

13 years ago

About a week ago, 2 men with yellow hardhats and orange jumpsuits on 1 motorbike pulled up to my gate and tried to get 4.5 million VND out of me for ONE month of electricity.

I refused to pay it as I knew it had to be false because my previous electric bills had been from 175,000-253,000 VND per month.

I noticed the bill was not the same bill I received the previous months (they kept the bill and left when I didn't pay, so I don't have a copy of it).聽 Also, the shoulder bag carried by one of the "electric company workers" was rather small and clearly did not have many bills in it.聽 My previous encounters with bill collectors involved a GIANT stack of bills tied down to their bike.聽 This guy had a small shoulder bag that appeared exceptionally light.聽 The whole thing reaks of a scam.

I called my Realtor's assistant and told her about it, she said she'd call the owner to find out.

I didn't hear anything for a week about it so I assumed it wasn't real at this point and laughed at the idea of someone thinking they could pull 4 mil on a scam like that.

Well I got a text from my realtor's assistant recently saying the owner has paid the 4.5 million for last month, but this month is already up to 2 million.聽 I know this can't be right.

First of all, why on earth would the owner shell out 4.5 mil for MY electric bill?聽 He's owned this house for a while, surely he knows that 4.5 mil for 1 month of electricity in a small house with 1 AC unit is absolutely insane, and we had no problems with our first 3 months.聽 It doesn't add up.聽 He wouldn't pay that, it just doesn't make sense.

Taking all this into account, everything points to the realtor's assistant as the one pulling my strings here, but it's just too dumb of a con and she seems like a really smart girl.聽 That doesn't really add up to me either.聽 Why would she try that?聽 The chances of coming out clean and not getting fired seems real small.

In addition, my realtor and his wife are in France on vacation.聽 It seems so obvious that the realtor's assistant is behind it, but I'm really having a hard time believing it.

I've been here for 3 months now.聽 We use A/C (typically set to 24 degrees) and the television for a few hours at night.聽 Our typical bill of 150-250k seemed fair for that, but to think they would charge over $200 US for ONE month of electricity is absolutely absurd.

Has anyone else received an outrageous electric bill?

Can anyone shed any light on this?聽 I have a copy of my previous 2 months electric bill statements at 175k and 253k.

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Budman1 ViP

1612POSTS

13 years ago

woahdonald with a bill that high (if it is indeed legitimist of course) somebody might be leaching off your line. If your in a stand alone house with a meter that's reading what electricity is going into your place, power everything in the house off and see if it's still racking up. Down here the Delta, guys wearing orange jump suits are just linemen, not bill collectors, strange.

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Northcove Member

16POSTS

13 years ago

My electricity bill was around 4.000.000 VND, until I tried turning off the water-heating system (Bathroom) during the daytime - after this the bill dropped to around 2 mil. I still use the same amount of hot water as before. Today i use 1 aircon running from 7 pm to 7 am. - Light, TV, 2x computer, kitchen etc. Price close to 2.000.000 mio VND/month.

As far as i know, the price of eletricity depends on the buyer - company, privat etc. Maybe something to do with the VAT?

Northcove Member

16POSTS

13 years ago

Information from cost-of-living Vietnam

Utilities (Monthly)
Basic (Electricity, Heating, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment聽聽聽 1,048,750.00 (800,000.00 to 1,782,875.00)

AndreasVN Member

18POSTS

13 years ago

Its usually 1 million per month for each aircon unit your running, so 400,000vnd for a month sounds very little to me. Maybe they have added it up during the months? The lowest bill iv had was 1,4 million for a month and the highest 4,3 million which it usually is but its a big house and 4 aircons running almost 24/7.

/Andreas

woahdonald Member

3POSTS

13 years ago

Thanks for all the responses!

I have 1 air-con unit that I run a lot, but usually set to 24C.聽 I generally keep the hot water turned off unless I'm doing dishes and I take cold showers.

I pay my realtor 2.5 million up front for all 3 months utilities and that's supposed to be a high estimate.聽 The last 3 months I've had no problems with it.聽 If anything I'd say my usage has gone down recently.聽 It's a small house with 1 main room for living, then theres a door that leads to the kitchen, living room and bathroom.聽 We keep that door closed to keep the cool air in the main room.

My house is in front of a post that has nearly a dozen electric meters on it.聽 I live in the vegetable village in Hoi An, and honestly I think 4 million could cover this whole side of the village.聽 As far as I know this is the only house on this side of the road here that has A/C.

I know it can't be real simply because I was told that the owner paid the 4.5 million bill from last month.聽 I mean, really?聽 What landlord in his right mind would do that?聽 I don't care how "nice" someone is, surely if they owned this house for years they would know what the electric bill range would be, and that it wouldn't suddenly become 15x more expensive.

l3ully Banned

830POSTS

13 years ago

between 800 000 and 1 000 000 on a 2 person house/household, without airco and we cook with electricity.

Electricity, so far I am aware of is provided by a single company only, so no different price schema should apply

johnnywastaken Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

I pay.... ahem the US Government pays.... roughly 2.2 million per month electric for my house.... In Saigon.... It's 4 stories but I only use one of the sleeping rooms.... with AC.... the rest stay empty.
(there are 5 self contained sleeping rooms that stay vacant)

I use AC approx. 15 hours per day... and also turn off Hot water during the day.... use washing machine 3 times a week.... run 3 comps... lights etc.... and fridge.... Other than that I'm naturally energy efficient....

I also thought someone else was piggy backing on my power grid.... ran a few experiments and learned that 2.2 million per month is the norm for what I do here...

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johnnywastaken Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

#10

Wow, my electricity is 500,00vnd per month with two people, two fidges and computersWe dont use aircon as its not that hot, even in Saigon two of us was only 500,000vnd per month

woahdonald Member

3POSTS

13 years ago

#11

johnnywastaken wrote:
I pay.... ahem the US Government pays.... roughly 2.2 million per month electric for my house.... In Saigon.... It's 4 stories but I only use one of the sleeping rooms.... with AC.... the rest stay empty.
(there are 5 self contained sleeping rooms that stay vacant)

I use AC approx. 15 hours per day... and also turn off Hot water during the day.... use washing machine 3 times a week.... run 3 comps... lights etc.... and fridge.... Other than that I'm naturally energy efficient....

I also thought someone else was piggy backing on my power grid.... ran a few experiments and learned that 2.2 million per month is the norm for what I do here...

Good info, thanks.聽 I've got some experiments under way now to see what my usage really is.

bvanalderweireldt New member

7POSTS

13 years ago

#12

I usually pay 500 000 / month (room + ac + fan) in HCM, except during one month when i was away from Vietnam, and it was 1 million

It appears that my smiling neighbor were using electricity of my room....

But anyway 4 millions is absurd, ask for the detail of the bill for normal month and compare it with the 4 million one.

johnnywastaken Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

#13

If you use A/C it pushes the bill up, but as stated above 4 million, someone is having a lend of you. Ask to see the bill then take it EVN and have them check it out, its most probably a scam with your landlord.

VungTauDon Serial expat

684POSTS

13 years ago

#14

My wife just paid our electric bill this morning, 2,500,000

johnnywastaken Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

#15

Let me guess Don, she sleeps with the AC on and puts a blanket on, seems to be a very common thing here. Iasked a group of engineers at Vietsovpetro, who sleeps all night with the ac on and also use a blanket, nearly all said yes. I said thats part of the reason we have power shedding here, they told me the ac is on to keep the mosquitos away.

VungTauDon Serial expat

684POSTS

13 years ago

#16

I wish...lol
If it gets below 26 she puts on a blanket. With the new baby she thinks she needs to keep it at 27 to 28.
The problem is with my 14 year old son from the US, he tries to keep his room as cold as possible. He sets it at 16 and lets it run 24 hours a day. That and the TV's and computers stay on quite a bit also.

johnnywastaken Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

#17

Yes, the ac chews through the dien, once you get to a certain level the price changes per kw.

Budman1 ViP

1612POSTS

13 years ago

#18

woahdonald I could be wrong on this but... After re-reading your post again my thoughts are that bill for 4.5VND wasn't for electricity but for a replacement meter. That's why the guys in orange jump suits were trying to collect it not the normal bill collector that comes around every month. That also would explain why your landlord paid it without questioning usage. What happened after that with the assistant, go figure....

johnnywastaken Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

#19

Yes, very good point Budman, I also thought the men in orange was somewhat unusual.But now you have also brought up that matter it does make sense.

Where in the Mekong Delta are you.

johnnywastaken Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

#20

Ok, sounds good,the lone white man. I have a friend up in Binh Phuoc, he is the only round eye for miles, luckily he speaks,reads and writes VN very well, so its not a drama for him.

l3ully Banned

830POSTS

13 years ago

#21

Budman1 wrote:
woahdonald I could be wrong on this but... After re-reading your post again my thoughts are that bill for 4.5VND wasn't for electricity but for a replacement meter. That's why the guys in orange jump suits were trying to collect it not the normal bill collector that comes around every month. That also would explain why your landlord paid it without questioning usage. What happened after that with the assistant, go figure....

yep, that could be right.

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phuong_nng New member

9POSTS

13 years ago

#22

You can come to Hoi An electric (VNE)company in Nguyen Duy Hieu st (next to Yaly - fashion company)to check your bill.
You should bring your bill of last month so they know the code of your landlord's name and address.
And you can see prices are different between first 100K...
I know an expat paid 1,4 millions(660k) for last month with 1AC
If it's possible, you should go with a vietnamese person who can show staffs of VNE company about your problem.
Otherwise if you want to do it clearly, you should ask the landlord to bring 3 bills of 3 last months to VNE company and fill up a form there to require to check your automatic electric counter.
Then they will come to your house to check someone is using electric from your house or not and check the automatic electric counter is right or wrong.