How to pay bills from abroad?

[Richard Haggis]

I'm thinking of buying a small condo for using occasionally (probably in one of the bigger complexes). Is there normally a system for paying water/electricity bills remotely?

Thanks.

[Soda11111]

probably best to prepay if allowed.

[davidge]

Generally, the Juristic Office will pay them for you for a fee. Need to leave funds with them to cover the bills, or you could set up automatic payment from your Thai bank account?

[usexpat46]

You shouldn't have a water bill if you're not there using water.  Small amount for electric for the fridge.  You could also ask a friend in your complex to pay the bill, I do it for a guy from the UK when he's back home. He leaves me some baht and key to his mail box.  His Sep and Oct electric bills were a whopping 67 and 77 baht.

[Guest]

Everyone of my bills are setup with auto debt. Never miss a payment and worry free.

[JAI DEE MAK]

13 hours ago, davidge said:

Generally, the Juristic Office will pay them for you for a fee. Need to leave funds with them to cover the bills, or you could set up automatic payment from your Thai bank account?

Nothing more to say on the matter this is the way to go .

The get a friend to do it will work but is not fool proof.

Some condos charge on top of the water bills even if you don't use any its normally about 50 to 100tb a month. 

JDM

[KittenKong]

15 hours ago, Richard Haggis said:

I'm thinking of buying a small condo for using occasionally (probably in one of the bigger complexes). Is there normally a system for paying water/electricity bills remotely?

In a condo the water is normally billed by the condo building itself. The same usually applies to cable TV (if you have it). So all you need to do is prepay enough to the front office to cover those internal bills and your yearly condo maintenance fees if you dont expect to be here when they are billed. Be sure to get an official receipt. Your condo building front office should be able to email you if there are some unexpected bills, and if so you can easily transfer money to their account via internet banking from your Thai bank account.

You should avoid cash payments to anyone unless you are sure that you will get an official receipt whenever you hand over any money. Undocumented cash has a tendency to vanish.

Electricity is normally billed directly by the PEA and you can easily set up a direct debit for this from your Thai bank account, though for some unknown reason it cannot be done through all banks. I've been paying mine that way for years and it works very well and is free. Get your Thai bank details, go to the PEA office with your latest bill (there's one in the Royal Garden), tell them you want to pay by direct debit in future, take the form they give you to your bank. It takes about 2 months to set up so make other arrangements for intervening bills.
Another option is to get a "smart invoice" emailed to you by the PEA (also free) and pay by internet banking, though this seems very complex compared to direct debit.

Your internet connection (if any) can usually be paid for a year in advance. I do this and I get 8% discount in return.

[Goolabert]

2 hours ago, weblo said:

Everyone of my bills are setup with auto debt. Never miss a payment and worry free.

If you own your condo this is the most convenient way. The Electric Co/Bank has the forms to authorize direct debit from your bank account. The bills still arrive as normal.

In my condo the water is paid direct to the condo. The bills are so small that they don't care if you just wait till you return to pay. Best to talk to them first.

 

[mcfish]

you can also pay online through your bank account. bangkok bank does it

[Larssonn]

just regarding the internet bills you can also "pause" the bills for a belive 3 months , if thats more than the 8% discount of value is upto each and one to decide .

 

regarding bills there are many options available as mentioned 

[Xfreak0000]

Automatic payment on your thai bank account would be the best option.

For uiltiy invoice and details, as far as I know the juristic office will send you via email.

[usexpat46]

You'll also have a condo fee which will either be monthly or once a year.

[KittenKong]

15 hours ago, Larssonn said:

just regarding the internet bills you can also "pause" the bills for a belive 3 months ,

I think that some providers allow this but not others.

[KittenKong]

19 hours ago, Goolabert said:

If you own your condo this is the most convenient way.

Tenants can do it too. I paid my bill as a tenant for two years that way.

[JAI DEE MAK]

35 minutes ago, usexpat46 said:

You'll also have a condo fee which will either be monthly or once a year.

Also you may get a one off charge after the AGM if the charge is voted in favour by the co owners attending.

JDM

[just hanging]

i pay my bills in the states from my US bank account. I pay my bills in Thailand with my thai bank account. so easy.  Unfortunately the electric and water bills cant be paid online.  My friends with houses here that travel, go to the office and set up an automatic payment with them, the bill is paid automatically without any need from you.  that is the way to be sure you have no problems.  If you are not here have someone set it up for you

[masaanli]

Automatic from your bank account is possible we have that for everything