How much is electricity in a Phuket condo per month?

Mine was ฿1,019.40 in June 2026 for a one-bedroom inland in Phuket Town with the air-con on most nights, billed by PEA directly. Your number depends mostly on how much you run the air-con and on how old the units are, but the more useful figure is the rate rather than the total: the residential tariff works out at roughly ฿4.0–4.3 per unit at ordinary usage, including the Ft adjustment, the service charge and VAT.

Who pays for electricity and water in a Thai rental?

Normally the tenant, and it is normally stated in the lease. Mine puts electricity, water and internet on me, and leaves the building's yearly common fee with the owner. What varies far more than who pays is who bills you — the utility directly, or the landlord or building reselling it — and that is the part worth asking about before signing.

Can my landlord charge me more than the government rate for electricity in Thailand?

Not as a profit-making markup. Under the 2025 contract-control rules for residential letting, a landlord in that business may not charge above the utility rate or add a profit, with a ceiling reported at ฿4.88 per unit, and a lease clause exceeding what the rules allow has no legal effect. The exact scope, including how many units a landlord must be letting for the rules to bite, is reported inconsistently — so treat the principle as solid and confirm the detail for your situation.

How do I know if I am being overcharged for electricity?

Divide the amount charged by the number of units used and look at the result. Around ฿4 a unit is the ordinary residential range. Well above that suggests you are on a private resold rate rather than the authority's. Also check whose name is on the bill and whether it carries a utility invoice number — a real PEA or MEA bill looks like a government document, while a building's printout does not.

What can I do if my landlord is overcharging for utilities in Thailand?

Start by asking for the calculation in writing and comparing it with the residential tariff. Keep your bills and photograph the meter each month so you have your own record. If it is not resolved, the Office of the Consumer Protection Board is the route, and its hotline is 1166. Rules and enforcement change, so check the current position before you act on any figure here.

Is internet usually included in Phuket condo rent?

Sometimes, and it is worth asking rather than assuming. Mine is included, which is common in newer blocks. A separate fibre line is a meaningful annual cost that never appears in a rent comparison, so two flats at the same rent are not necessarily the same price.

Do renters pay the condo common area fee in Thailand?

Usually not — my lease leaves the building's yearly common fee with the owner, which is the normal arrangement for a rental. It is a genuine cost of owning rather than renting, and one of the less obvious reasons renting can work out cheaper than the sale prices suggest.

Who pays for repairs in a Phuket rental?

It depends on your lease and the clause deserves a proper read. Mine makes any single repair up to ฿2,000, plus replacing fused bulbs, my responsibility, while normal wear and tear, faulty construction, plumbing and electrics, and the major appliances stay with the owner. That ฿2,000 is my figure and not a national standard, so check yours before something breaks rather than after.

Phuket · Living here

What Utilities Actually Cost in a Phuket Condo (2026) — and the Rule That Caps What Your Landlord Can Charge

Rent is the number everyone compares. The bills are where people get quietly overcharged, because most tenants never find out whether they are paying the government rate or the building's.

By Kai Nakamura · Living in Phuket since 2024
Last updated August 2026 · my own bills and my own lease · tariffs and the 2025 consumer rules researched, checked Aug 2026 · 9 min read

My electricity, June 2026: ฿1,019.40
Billed by: PEA, directly
Residential rate: ≈ ฿4.0–4.3 / unit
Landlord ceiling (2025): ฿4.88 / unit

The quick answer

Ask one question before you sign: does the electricity bill come from the utility, or from the building? Mine comes straight from PEA, the provincial authority — a government bill in my own name, ฿1,019.40 for June 2026 with air-con on most nights. Plenty of tenants are billed by their landlord or building instead, which resells power at its own rate. That matters because the residential tariff runs about ฿4.0–4.3 per unit, and since 2025 a residential-letting business is not allowed to make a profit on electricity, with a ceiling reported at ฿4.88 per unit — and a lease clause that charges more than the rules allow has no legal effect. Most tenants never check. It takes two minutes.

On the groundobserved my own June 2026 bill and my own lease — re-read 24 August 2026

My electricity comes from PEA directly, in my name: ฿1,019.40 for June 2026. Air-con on most nights, one bedroom, inland in Phuket Town where it runs hotter than the coast. That is the number a government meter produces. It is not a number a building's private tariff would necessarily produce for the same electricity.
Internet is inside my rent, and that is worth real money. It is common in newer blocks and it is not universal — the same flat with a separate fibre line is a four-figure baht difference over a year. Ask, rather than assume, because it never shows up in a rent comparison.
My lease puts electricity, water and internet on me, and the building's yearly common fee on the owner. That last one matters more than it sounds: the common fee is a real annual cost that a buyer carries and a renter does not, and it is one of the quiet advantages of renting here.
My lease also puts any single repair up to ฿2,000 — and fused bulbs — on me, while leaving wear and tear, faulty plumbing and electrics, and the big appliances (fridge, stove, washing machine, air-con) with the owner. When a ceiling light died I [replaced it myself for ฿268](/guides/condo-light-replacement-phuket). Read your own version of that clause; the ฿2,000 is mine, not a national standard.
Before I moved in, the owner owed a deep clean plus servicing of the air-con and the electrical and water systems — written into the lease, not offered as a favour. Air-con is the appliance that runs hardest here and the one whose condition quietly sets your electricity bill, so getting that in writing is worth more than it looks.

Rent is the number everyone compares. The bills are where people quietly lose money, because most tenants never find out whether they are paying the government's rate for electricity or the building's.

I rent a one-bedroom in Phuket Town for ฿25,000 a month. This is what actually arrives on top of that, taken from my own bills and my own lease rather than from an average — plus the part that took me longest to understand, which is that who sends you the bill can change what you pay for identical electricity.

What is firsthand and what isn't. My bill, my lease and the clauses quoted are mine — one real contract, a strong data point and a poor basis for generalising. Tariffs, and the 2025 rules on what a landlord may charge, are researched and checked August 2026. Utility rules change and enforcement varies, so confirm anything you are about to act on.

What actually comes on top of the rent?

Line	Who pays it, in my lease	My number
Electricity	Me	฿1,019.40 — June 2026, billed by PEA directly
Water	Me	Small next to electricity
Internet	Me — but included in my rent	฿0 extra
Building common fee (yearly)	The owner	฿0 to me
Repairs under ฿2,000, and bulbs	Me	฿268 the one time it happened
Wear and tear, plumbing, electrics, big appliances	The owner	—

Two of those rows are worth pausing on.

Internet inside the rent is a real saving that no rent comparison shows. Mine is included, which is common in newer blocks and is not universal. Two flats advertised at the same rent are not necessarily the same price, and this is the sort of thing that is easy to ask and awkward to discover later.

The yearly common fee is the owner's, not mine. That is the normal arrangement for a rental here, and it is one of the quieter arguments for renting rather than buying: it is a genuine recurring cost of ownership that simply does not reach a tenant.

Who bills you, and why it decides everything

Here is the question to ask at the viewing, before rent is even discussed: does the electricity bill come from the utility, or from the building?

My electricity comes directly from PEA — the Provincial Electricity Authority, the government utility that covers Phuket — as a bill in my own name. That means I pay the residential tariff, whatever it happens to be that month.

Plenty of tenants do not. In many buildings and serviced apartments the landlord or the operator holds the account, buys the electricity, and resells it to tenants at their own rate. You get a printout from the building rather than a bill from the utility. Same electricity, different number.

This is not automatically a scam — someone has to read sub-meters and administer it, and buildings have always done this. But it is the single biggest variable in what you pay, it is invisible in any rent comparison, and since 2025 there are limits on it.

What is a landlord actually allowed to charge?

Two figures do the work here, and both are researched, checked August 2026.

The residential tariff is roughly ฿4.0–4.3 per unit at ordinary household usage, once the Ft adjustment, the service charge and VAT are counted. That is the number a bill like mine reflects.

Since 2025, a residential-letting business may not make a profit on electricity, and the ceiling reported for what a landlord may charge is ฿4.88 per unit. The same principle applies to water: charges are meant to reflect the authorities' rates rather than a private one. Leases are also supposed to state plainly how utility charges are calculated.

The part that surprises most tenants: a clause charging more than the rules allow does not become valid because you signed it. It is consistently reported that terms contradicting these rules have no legal effect. Signing a lease is not consent to an unlawful rate.

One honest limit on all of this. The scope of the rules — in particular how many units a landlord must be letting before they apply — is reported inconsistently across sources, and I am not going to hand you a threshold I could not pin down. Treat the principle as solid: no profit on electricity, a ceiling around ฿4.88, and unlawful clauses being void. Confirm the specifics for your own situation before you rely on them. The authority is the Office of the Consumer Protection Board, and tariffs themselves come from PEA.

How to check your own bill in two minutes

You do not need to understand Thai utility billing. You need three checks.

Whose name is on it, and is it a government document? A real PEA bill looks like one — a utility invoice number, the authority's branding, your name or the owner's. A sheet printed by the building office is a different thing, and tells you immediately that you are on a resold rate.
Divide the charge by the units used. This is the whole test. Around ฿4 a unit is ordinary. Materially above that and you are not on the residential tariff — and above about ฿4.88 you are into what the 2025 rules were written for.
Photograph your meter, once a month. It takes five seconds and it is the only way to have your own record if the numbers ever stop making sense. Do it from the first month, not from the month you get suspicious.

And before you sign anything: ask to see a recent bill for the actual unit. A landlord who bills at the government rate has no reason to refuse. The reaction to that question is itself information.

What if the number is wrong?

Work through it in order.

Ask for the calculation in writing. Not the total — the units used and the rate applied. Most disagreements end here, either because there is a reasonable explanation or because being asked is enough.

Compare it against the residential tariff. You now have the figure to compare with, which is the part most tenants never had.

Keep your evidence. Bills, the written calculation, and your own monthly meter photographs.

If it is not resolved, escalate. The route is the Office of the Consumer Protection Board, whose hotline is 1166. I have not had to use it — my meter is in my own name and my bill comes from the utility — so treat that as a signpost rather than a walkthrough.

What I actually pay, all in

For one person, in a one-bedroom, inland, with the air-con on most nights: electricity around ฿1,000 in a hot month, water small enough that I do not think about it, internet at ฿0 because it is in the rent, and a ฿210 mobile line. The only repair I have paid for was ฿268.

That is the honest shape of it: the bills are not where a Phuket budget breaks. Rent and food are. But the bills are where you can be quietly overcharged for years without ever knowing, and the entire defence against that is asking one question before you sign and doing one division afterwards.

If you have not signed yet, the rest of that conversation — what the deposit actually is, what the lease puts on you, and who your agent works for — is in renting a condo in Phuket.

01What to actually do about this

Ask before you sign, check once after

Two questions at the viewing — who bills the electricity, and can I see a recent bill for this unit — settle almost everything on this page. Then check the first real bill against the per-unit rate once. If the meter is in your name and the number is in the low fours per unit, you are done and you never have to think about it again. This is five minutes of work against a cost you pay every month for years.

Don't assume the lease decides it

A clause that charges you more than the rules allow does not become valid because you signed it. Reported consistently since the 2025 contract-control rules: terms that contradict them have no legal effect, and the lease is supposed to state plainly how utility charges are worked out. Signing is not consent to an unlawful rate — so if the number looks wrong, the contract is not the end of the conversation.

Frequently asked questions

How much is electricity in a Phuket condo per month?: Mine was ฿1,019.40 in June 2026 for a one-bedroom inland in Phuket Town with the air-con on most nights, billed by PEA directly. Your number depends mostly on how much you run the air-con and on how old the units are, but the more useful figure is the rate rather than the total: the residential tariff works out at roughly ฿4.0–4.3 per unit at ordinary usage, including the Ft adjustment, the service charge and VAT.
Who pays for electricity and water in a Thai rental?: Normally the tenant, and it is normally stated in the lease. Mine puts electricity, water and internet on me, and leaves the building's yearly common fee with the owner. What varies far more than who pays is who bills you — the utility directly, or the landlord or building reselling it — and that is the part worth asking about before signing.
Can my landlord charge me more than the government rate for electricity in Thailand?: Not as a profit-making markup. Under the 2025 contract-control rules for residential letting, a landlord in that business may not charge above the utility rate or add a profit, with a ceiling reported at ฿4.88 per unit, and a lease clause exceeding what the rules allow has no legal effect. The exact scope, including how many units a landlord must be letting for the rules to bite, is reported inconsistently — so treat the principle as solid and confirm the detail for your situation.
How do I know if I am being overcharged for electricity?: Divide the amount charged by the number of units used and look at the result. Around ฿4 a unit is the ordinary residential range. Well above that suggests you are on a private resold rate rather than the authority's. Also check whose name is on the bill and whether it carries a utility invoice number — a real PEA or MEA bill looks like a government document, while a building's printout does not.
What can I do if my landlord is overcharging for utilities in Thailand?: Start by asking for the calculation in writing and comparing it with the residential tariff. Keep your bills and photograph the meter each month so you have your own record. If it is not resolved, the Office of the Consumer Protection Board is the route, and its hotline is 1166. Rules and enforcement change, so check the current position before you act on any figure here.
Is internet usually included in Phuket condo rent?: Sometimes, and it is worth asking rather than assuming. Mine is included, which is common in newer blocks. A separate fibre line is a meaningful annual cost that never appears in a rent comparison, so two flats at the same rent are not necessarily the same price.
Do renters pay the condo common area fee in Thailand?: Usually not — my lease leaves the building's yearly common fee with the owner, which is the normal arrangement for a rental. It is a genuine cost of owning rather than renting, and one of the less obvious reasons renting can work out cheaper than the sale prices suggest.
Who pays for repairs in a Phuket rental?: It depends on your lease and the clause deserves a proper read. Mine makes any single repair up to ฿2,000, plus replacing fused bulbs, my responsibility, while normal wear and tear, faulty construction, plumbing and electrics, and the major appliances stay with the owner. That ฿2,000 is my figure and not a national standard, so check yours before something breaks rather than after.