Thread: Hooked Up

An hour after our first call, three people show up and the wife starts to negotiate for the labor cost. (I provided the parts, cable, and had the end box in place.) She has a glum look on her face as she tells me it is expensive and they want 600 baht. I try to keep a straight face and tell her to have them get on with it. In the USA, you couldn't get a linemen to get out of his car for 20 bucks.

The three of them get to work cutting cable, climbing the poles, and yelling at each other in hill tribe dialect while the boys continue fishing. I spent some time in the past working for a power company and this crew of three did excellent work and very fast as well. By the time they were done, I was singing "Wichita Lineman" to them and telling them about that song back in "Merica." The wife pays them and they leave happy. Another good day on the land. The meter gets put in on Tuesday so we will be hooked up and be able to plug in.

probably would have been 500 baht if you hadn't have sung to them....

btw, what sort of fish is that?

^
Pla Taptim

Originally Posted by palexxxx

probably would have been 500 baht if you hadn't have sung to them....

Probably so! Now that I think of it, maybe that is why they were working so fast....

Thetyim is correct on the fish. We planted these as fingerlings a while back and they have done really well.

What was the price all in, if you don't mind my asking? How far is the nearest power supply from your land.

Looks like a very nice spot indeed..

Originally Posted by somtamslap

What was the price all in, if you don't mind my asking? How far is the nearest power supply from your land.

Looks like a very nice spot indeed..

It had to come in quite a ways, somewhere around 350 meters I would estimate. The power company installed several concrete poles and the wire to the edge of our land for 61,000 baht. Add to that 4000 baht for the consumer box/enclosure I put in on the pole inside our land and the 600 baht final hook up plus 1400 baht for the final 100 meters of 25 square mm aluminum overhead cable. Not cheap, but we figure it is worth it for the parcel we ended up with. We looked around for 5 years for land until we found this place.

Any idea of what the cable costs per metre? I've got about 1400 metres of it from our farm, they ended up putting power lines in and want to sell it.

Originally Posted by Bung

Any idea of what the cable costs per metre? I've got about 1400 metres of it from our farm, they ended up putting power lines in and want to sell it.

Depends on the size and material. 25 square mm aluminum with insulating sheath is 1400 baht for 100 meters, and copper is a lot more. They use heavier stuff for the public runs.

Cheers, just wanted a ball park before I get ripped off. Thanks.

Originally Posted by thailazer

The power company installed several concrete poles and the wire to the edge of our land for 61,000 baht. Add to that 4000 baht for the consumer box/enclosure I put in on the pole inside our land and the 600 baht final hook up plus 1400 baht for the final 100 meters of 25 square mm aluminum overhead cable.

Not too terrible considering the distance they had to make up. Have you had a bore hole drilled for the water yet?

Originally Posted by somtamslap

Originally Posted by thailazer

The power company installed several concrete poles and the wire to the edge of our land for 61,000 baht. Add to that 4000 baht for the consumer box/enclosure I put in on the pole inside our land and the 600 baht final hook up plus 1400 baht for the final 100 meters of 25 square mm aluminum overhead cable.

Not too terrible considering the distance they had to make up. Have you had a bore hole drilled for the water yet?

Working on the well screen today actually. Am going to try to jet my own well as we have springs on the property. Water is only two meters down where the well is going and trying to get 6 meters below that water table. This is a bit of a grand but fun experiment.

Looks like you got a bargain. About 20 years ago, I had to pay the electricity board 18,000 baht to to put some power to our house in a village in the boonies of Khon Kaen. For that I got 4 large concrete poles to cover the approx 100 metres from the neareest supply plus the promise that anyone who subsequently used those poles would have to give us a percent of the cost. Needless to say, years past , I split the scene and never saw anything of any percentages.