Thailand Rental Electricity Survey 2026: 98.8% of Advertised Rates Exceed the 4.88 THB/Unit Cap

Key Findings at a Glance

How Advertised Rates Are Distributed

This chart shows all 254 advertised electricity rates. The red line marks the OCPB official calculation-method cap of 4.88 THB/unit — only 3 listings (1.2%) sit at or below it, and not a single one advertised at or below the residential blended average of 3.95 THB/unit. The most common prices are 7 and 8 THB (together 68.1% of all listings).

The Invisible Electricity Price: A Third of Listings Don't Advertise One

Of all 400 sampled listings, only 63.5% advertise a numeric electricity rate that a tenant can see before making contact. For the rest, tenants must call to ask — or only learn the real rate at contract time:

Bangkok vs the Provinces: Over-Cap Nationwide

Overcharging is not a Bangkok-only phenomenon — the median advertised rate is 7 THB/unit nationwide, and the over-cap share is nearly identical:

The most-sampled provinces after Bangkok: Chonburi (31), Chiang Mai (23), Pathum Thani (16), Phuket (15), Nonthaburi (14), Nakhon Pathom (13). A per-university-zone breakdown needs a larger targeted sample and is planned for the next survey wave.

How Much Extra Per Month: A 30-Unit Simulation

At 30 units/month, the median overcharge above the 4.88 THB/unit cap is about 63.6 THB per month (≈763 THB per year), with the worst case observed at 453.6 THB/month — CapSolar survey, July 2026.

Assume a single room using 30 units/month (typical for a rental room without all-day aircon). This table computes the monthly excess for every advertised rate, against the OCPB calculation-method cap of 4.88 and against the current-period residential blended average of 3.95 THB/unit:

Bonus: Water Charges Raise the Same Question

The same survey also recorded water charges: 45.2% advertise a per-unit price (n=180 valid), median 18 THB/unit (P25–P75 = 17–23.5, max 100), and another 11% charge a flat per-person fee, median 100 THB/person/month (range 50–300).

Methodology (Fully Reproducible)

This report's credibility rests on its open methodology: the data source, sampling frame, selection rules, and every limitation are disclosed in full below.

Limitations (Read Before Citing)

Every number in this report comes from real, reproducible automated collection — but six limitations must be understood by anyone citing it:

1. 1

   Self-selection bias — price statistics cover only the 63.5% of listings that chose to advertise a rate. The real rates of the 23% "call to ask" group are unknown; the bias direction is uncertain, though common sense suggests they are unlikely to be cheaper than rates owners are willing to publish.

2. 2

   Platform bias — the sample comes from a single listings website, skewed toward urban apartments/dormitories; older dorms and rooms never listed online are not represented.

3. 3

   Advertised ≠ actually charged — this survey measures public price-advertising behavior; a listed rate may be outdated or differ from what the lease actually charges.

4. 4

   Frame drift — sitemap contents and ordering change daily; exact listing-level replication requires same-day collection, but all sampling parameters (SEED, step, offset, positions) are recorded, so statistical replication is possible.

5. 5

   Outliers — 4 listings (1.6%) advertise 17–20 THB/unit, possibly bundling other fees or data-entry errors. We did not remove them, and the result is insensitive to them: excluding them, the over-cap share is still 98.8% (247/250).

6. 6

   Water comparison basis — waterworks tariffs are usage-tiered, so a per-listing "over" judgment requires a usage-band comparison; this report shows only the water price distribution and passes no per-listing judgment.

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