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Often it's because the air con consumes more electricity during the warmer months such as March, April, May.

Sometimes the meters have problems indeed, they turn too quickly, or too slowly (when it's too slowly nobody complains). You can check, for example: compare the number on morning and on evening, just keep the fridge, and compute if it's normal.

Electric here keeps going up.. when I arrived in January was paying 900k more recently it's around 1.8 million

Wouldn't surprise me if the people here who check readings just make the figures up

Funny, ours has been down the last two months.  Normally close to 2M now 1.5M and we have been using the AC as much now.  I thought it might have been higher during lockdown but our biggest users are that we run AC at night in two bedrooms and all day in the TV/office room so it didn't really change much on useage.

Only have the Aircon on in one room at night..
During the day hardly at all
Must the the fish tank 😜

goodolboy wrote:

...4 months back for no apparent reason (nothing had obviously changed on our consumption) the bills jumped up to 1,2mil +-  vnd every month...

Mine took a big jump  when I was using the internal water heating function of my washing machine more.

Also, I started inviting my neighbor to sit on my balcony with me in the morning for "coffee", and I was leaving the sliding glass doors open and ending up cooling the courtyard 2 stories below my apartment.

It cost me a lot of money but I was keeping the landlord's daughter really happy (the person in the courtyard two stories below)

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Only have the Aircon on in one room at night..
During the day hardly at all
Must the the fish tank 😜

I don't understand that.  I run one AC 16 hours a day and the other two 10 hours a day.  How can my electric bill be lower than yours?  Plus three showers with water heaters and at least 3 if not sometimes up to 6 people here at any time and at least 4 loads of laundry a week.  Been running 1.5M a month lately.

Are you on your own meter or do you pay through a landlord?

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

Mine took a big jump  when I was using the internal water heating function of my washing machine more.

I could see that affecting things a bit but there's not that many gallons in these little washing machines.  Shouldn't be any worse than what you use for a shower.  We usually do cold or 40*C, not too hot.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Only have the Aircon on in one room at night..
During the day hardly at all
Must the the fish tank 😜

I don't understand that.  I run one AC 16 hours a day and the other two 10 hours a day.  How can my electric bill be lower than yours?  Plus three showers with water heaters and at least 3 if not sometimes up to 6 people here at any time and at least 4 loads of laundry a week.  Been running 1.5M a month lately.

Are you on your own meter or do you pay through a landlord?

Billed by the landlord... Never get to see how many kWh

Other people in the building complain also some are owners and some are tenants

SteinNebraska wrote:

I don't understand that.  I run one AC 16 hours a day and the other two 10 hours a day.  How can my electric bill be lower than yours?

I've noticed that when I started the AC before the living room (facing the afternoon sun) warmed up, around 12:30, the room was cool much faster, stayed cool much longer, and I only needed to keep the AC at 21°.   When I started it an hour later, I had to go as low as 17° or 18° and still, the result wasn't satisfactory.

I rarely need to use the other two ACs but 4 floor fans are in use 24 hours/day.  We don't use AC at night.,  I run two loads of laundry each week at 40°.

My electric bill has been fluctuating between 850k at the lowest last year and 1.060k at the highest this year.  Our apartment is not that large, 75 - 78 m2.  All electric meters are in the basement, the tenants take photo of the reading themselves.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Only have the Aircon on in one room at night..
During the day hardly at all
Must the the fish tank 😜

I don't understand that.  I run one AC 16 hours a day and the other two 10 hours a day.  How can my electric bill be lower than yours?  Plus three showers with water heaters and at least 3 if not sometimes up to 6 people here at any time and at least 4 loads of laundry a week.  Been running 1.5M a month lately.

Are you on your own meter or do you pay through a landlord?

Billed by the landlord... Never get to see how many kWh

Other people in the building complain also some are owners and some are tenants

In that case you are getting well screwed mate! no way you should be paying that, tell the landlord you want the elect company to bill you direct text to you on your phone. My last rented place the bill went direct to my GF phone & just nipped down to coco mart to pay it, or Sacombank Pay app

I think you & me are similar in situation e.g.

Apartment 75m2.....2 bed but only one in use. A/C goes on in bedroom at 7pm & off at 6am set at 20 degrees same all year round.

Shower on cold setting & pump off.
Lights all LED so power usage minimal.
Washing machine on most days but cold wash.
Fridge/freezer obviously on all day but not a huge unit.
Robo hoover runs 30 minutes every day & power consumption minimal.
GF out at work from 8am to 7pm every day except Sunday.
Ceiling fan & TV on all day in lounge unless I go out so most days at least 10 hours.
Oven, microwave, juicer & blender used for 5 minutes say every day
BUT!!! have a fish bowel not a tank so no power consumption there
BUT.....our main cooking is by gas......................lasts exactly 2 months +- & costs 350,000vnd

Like I said before most I have paid is about 1.2mil & this month for no apparent reason 631,825vnd

Our electricity bill is only 300k a month. House rates are cheaper, plus we dont have A/C.

colinoscapee wrote:

Our electricity bill is only 300k a month. House rates are cheaper, plus we dont have A/C.

Maybe that's because you are very cool...

😎

Ciambella wrote:

I've noticed that when I started the AC before the living room (facing the afternoon sun) warmed up, around 12:30, the room was cool much faster, stayed cool much longer, and I only needed to keep the AC at 21°.   When I started it an hour later, I had to go as low as 17° or 18° and still, the result wasn't satisfactory.

While we do run ours a lot they are set at 25* .  It is cool enough and it takes the humidity out which helps as much as anything.  Wife has fan in kitchen and the main living room where she spends most of her time.  She doesn't like the air conditioning during the day.  But she is fine with it at night.  Daughter has gotten really used to having it after never having it before.

SteinNebraska wrote:

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

Mine took a big jump  when I was using the internal water heating function of my washing machine more.

I could see that affecting things a bit but there's not that many gallons in these little washing machines.  Shouldn't be any worse than what you use for a shower.  We usually do cold or 40*C, not too hot.

I use a lot of white fabric, and I was running the washing temperature at maximum high and then also turning on what was called medic rinse which was heating the rinse water too

I've noticed since moving here that when I did actually go home to US during the summer the AC that I used to run at 21 is now at 25.  I've definitely acclimated to the warmer weather.  We will see what happens when I have to face a Nebraska winter again next year.  Not just me - but two girls that have never been below 19* before when they start feeling -20*C.  I've tried to explain it to them but you just have to experience it to understand.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

I use a lot of white fabric, and I was running the washing temperature at maximum high and then also turning on what was called medic rinse which was heating the rinse water too

OK, THAT will burn some electrons.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Our electricity bill is only 300k a month. House rates are cheaper, plus we dont have A/C.

Maybe that's because you are very cool...

😎

Now that you mention it....yes.

SteinNebraska wrote:

While we do run ours a lot they are set at 25* .  It is cool enough and it takes the humidity out which helps as much as anything.  Wife has fan in kitchen and the main living room where she spends most of her time.  She doesn't like the air conditioning during the day.  But she is fine with it at night.  Daughter has gotten really used to having it after never having it before.

The General AC technician told me to set it between 23° - 25° in he day time because 21° would cost a lot more, and that I'll see a big jump on the bill if I continue to set at 18°.  He said that for foreigners, it's best to set AC at 27° at night with the floor or ceiling fan on, but my husband can't sleep with AC.

Maybe your bill is low because your ACs are set at 25°.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Ciambella wrote:

I've noticed that when I started the AC before the living room (facing the afternoon sun) warmed up, around 12:30, the room was cool much faster, stayed cool much longer, and I only needed to keep the AC at 21°.   When I started it an hour later, I had to go as low as 17° or 18° and still, the result wasn't satisfactory.

While we do run ours a lot they are set at 25* .  It is cool enough and it takes the humidity out which helps as much as anything.  Wife has fan in kitchen and the main living room where she spends most of her time.  She doesn't like the air conditioning during the day.  But she is fine with it at night.  Daughter has gotten really used to having it after never having it before.

The direction of a property makes a lot of difference. Our house faces North-East, we also have low set  houses at the rear and front of our place. Being near the inlet there is very little to stop the sea breeze cooling our house. We are able to leave windows and doors open 24 hrs, this means we dont need A/C.

colinoscapee wrote:

The direction of a property makes a lot of difference. Our house faces North-East, we also have low set  houses at the rear and front of our place. Being near the inlet there is very little to stop the sea breeze cooling our house. We are able to leave windows and doors open 24 hrs, this means we dont need A/C.

Envy, envy, envy.   

Yeah something not right. Aircon is set to 25 and only really gets used at night in the bedroom.

Washing machine always a cool wash...

Only items on all day are the fridge freezer and fish tank pump.

colinoscapee wrote:

The direction of a property makes a lot of difference. Our house faces North-East, we also have low set  houses at the rear and front of our place. Being near the inlet there is very little to stop the sea breeze cooling our house. We are able to leave windows and doors open 24 hrs, this means we dont need A/C.

Ours faces WSW unfortunately.  We don't have anything across the street from us so we do tend to get good breezes, though.

We also leave the front and back doors on the first floor open all day but we close the front big one at night because of security.  It would be nice to take advantage of the cooler night air.  The ground floor stays pretty cool and a fan is enough.  Also there is a flow tunnel open as a straight shot from the first floor to the 4th that is also open to each floor in the stairwell.  If we keep the two doors open on the 4th floor we get a lot of convection air movement up through the house and out.  In the rainy season we tend to keep those doors closed as they aren't under overhangs like the first floor doors.

SteinNebraska wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

The direction of a property makes a lot of difference. Our house faces North-East, we also have low set  houses at the rear and front of our place. Being near the inlet there is very little to stop the sea breeze cooling our house. We are able to leave windows and doors open 24 hrs, this means we dont need A/C.

Ours faces WSW unfortunately.  We don't have anything across the street from us so we do tend to get good breezes, though.

We also leave the front and back doors on the first floor open all day but we close the front big one at night because of security.  It would be nice to take advantage of the cooler night air.  The ground floor stays pretty cool and a fan is enough.  Also there is a flow tunnel open as a straight shot from the first floor to the 4th that is also open to each floor in the stairwell.  If we keep the two doors open on the 4th floor we get a lot of convection air movement up through the house and out.  In the rainy season we tend to keep those doors closed as they aren't under overhangs like the first floor doors.

My apartment balcony faces West, I like to leave the balcony door open, the laundry door open & the entry door open to get a good air flow especially this time of year. Only problem is depending on the wind direction I have regularly close the balcony door due to the toxic black choking smoke coming from some of the factories about 5 km away. I posted a video of this phenomenon on the Apartment FB page........now dont you laugh!! can you guess what one Vietnamese guy posted in return & he was serious.........quote" please do not worry about this smoke, it will not harm you & keeps the mosquitoes away" seriously, thats what he said WTF is that about
Most days I have to keep the entry door closed because the Vietnamese mothers & grannies shout at each other from their doors as part of normal conversations & dont even tempt me to tell you about the noise when the schools are closed for holidays!!
So really its down to the ceiling fan for poor old me during the day to keep cool.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Yeah something not right. Aircon is set to 25 and only really gets used at night in the bedroom.

Washing machine always a cool wash...

Only items on all day are the fridge freezer and fish tank pump.

Yeah, you are getting hosed by the landlord.  What would happen if you demanded to see the meter each month?

SteinNebraska wrote:

Yeah, you are getting hosed by the landlord.  What would happen if you demanded to see the meter each month?

In every place I've lived, the landlord showed me where my unit's meter was located, and I was always allowed to see the meter reading each month.

Ciambella wrote:

In every place I've lived, the landlord showed me where my unit's meter was located, and I was always allowed to see the meter reading each month.

That makes complete sense.  He needs to say something.  Interested to see what the response is.