Thai Electricity Rates Every Smart Home Owner Should Know
MEA and PEA use a progressive tariff — the more you use, the higher the rate per unit:
| Monthly usage | Rate (THB/unit) |
|---|---|
| 0-150 units | 3.2222 |
| 151-400 units | 4.2218 |
| Over 400 units | 4.4217 |
The average Thai household uses 400-600 units per month (DEDE 2566), placing most families in the 4.2218-4.4217 THB/unit band.
Quick calculation: 500-unit household: (150 × 3.22) + (250 × 4.22) + (100 × 4.42) = 483 + 1,055 + 442 = 1,980 THB/month (before FT surcharge and taxes).
Peak vs Off-Peak: Saving with TOU Tariffs
MEA Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing:
- Peak: 09:00-22:00 Monday-Friday (excluding public holidays)
- Off-Peak: 22:00-09:00 every day + all-day Saturday-Sunday
Off-Peak TOU rates run approximately 30-40% lower than standard rates.
Appliances to shift to off-peak:
- Washing machine (800-2,000W): schedule 22:30
- Dryer (1,500-2,500W): schedule 23:00
- Dishwasher (1,200-1,800W): schedule 22:00
- EV/e-bike charging: 22:30-06:00
- Tank water heater (2,000W): schedule 05:00
Peak Hour Automations
yaml
alias: "Peak Hour - Water Heater Off"
trigger:
- platform: time
at: "09:00:00"
condition:
- condition: time
weekday:
- mon
- tue
- wed
- thu
- fri
action:
- service: switch.turn_off
target:
entity_id: switch.water_heater_tank
- service: notify.mobile_app_owner
data:
title: "⚡ Peak Hours Started"
message: "Tank water heater switched off. Saving at peak rate."
alias: "Off-Peak - Start Laundry"
trigger:
- platform: time
at: "22:30:00"
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.laundry_scheduled
state: "on"
action:
- service: switch.turn_on
target:
entity_id: switch.washing_machine_smart_plug
- service: input_boolean.turn_off
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.laundry_scheduled
- service: notify.mobile_app_owner
data:
message: "🧺 Washing machine started (off-peak rate)"
Energy Dashboard: Real-Time Monitoring Hardware
Recommended energy monitoring hardware:
- Shelly EM: 2,500-3,500 THB — whole-home monitoring via CT clamp
- Zigbee smart plug with power meter: 300-500 THB each — per-appliance tracking
- Tasmota energy plug: 200-350 THB — low-cost MQTT integration with HA
Energy KPI targets:
- Reduce peak-hour consumption by > 30%
- Month-1 bill compared to pre-automation baseline
- ROI on energy monitoring hardware investment: under 6 months
Expected Results
From DEDE 2566 studies of households with automated load shifting:
- 20-35% monthly electricity bill reduction
- 40-50% reduction in peak-hour consumption
- Payback on smart plug + automation investment within 3-8 months