The utilities are a bit confusing.
Electricity is prepaid. You get a card – my personal assistant got the card for me. It was probably part of setting up the service to my unit. There is a meter in the hallway on our floor that has everyone’s meter. You have to go to your meter periodically to see if your unit light is flashing. If it is you are low on power. Here are the steps to pay the electric bill.
Step 1: Go to the utility office (picture 1 - it is the basement of our apartment complex)
Step 2: Pay them in cash and they write you out a carbon copy reciept
Step 3: They fill up your card on a computer
Step 4: You insert the card into the utility box on your floor...the oneit back into your utility box so that it can read how much you spent, and then you pull it out and keep it in your home. If you forget to put more money on your card, your electricity is turned off.
Step 1: Go to the utility office (picture 1 - it is the basement of our apartment complex)
Step 2: Pay them in cash and they write you out a carbon copy reciept
Step 3: They fill up your card on a computer
Step 4: You insert the card into the utility box on your floor...the oneit back into your utility box so that it can read how much you spent, and then you pull it out and keep it in your home. If you forget to put more money on your card, your electricity is turned off.
Water: This is something you pay after you have used it. There is a service person that comes around to your apartment once a month to read the meter inside your apartment. It is very helpful to have an Ayi home to open the door. If you are not there, then they just come back next month. I am sure that there is a procedure for making an appointment, but I haven’t had to do that yet. In a week or so after they read your meter, they will leave a note outside your door. Nothing here looks like an official receipt or statement so it is hard not reading Chinese because you never know if something is junk or important. We haven’t paid our water bill for 2 months – somehow the bill was lost, and no one knows how to pay the bill without it. So I am waiting for a new bill.
Gas: the heater for your home is turned on by the Chinese government, and it is my understanding that you don’t control how much or little hot air comes into your home. You get a statement on your door for the fee for the entire year. That fee is paid in one lump sum. Ours was 3,300 RMB (about $500) for a 127 square meter, 2 bedroom apartment. You pay it at your local utility office in your complex.
Hot water heater: We have an on demand system….I am not sure how it works. I am sure one day I will no longer have hot water, and then I will figure out how to pay that bill. That is what happened with the electicity…
Gas: the heater for your home is turned on by the Chinese government, and it is my understanding that you don’t control how much or little hot air comes into your home. You get a statement on your door for the fee for the entire year. That fee is paid in one lump sum. Ours was 3,300 RMB (about $500) for a 127 square meter, 2 bedroom apartment. You pay it at your local utility office in your complex.
Hot water heater: We have an on demand system….I am not sure how it works. I am sure one day I will no longer have hot water, and then I will figure out how to pay that bill. That is what happened with the electicity…
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