When I would travel down to Chonburi and stay a few weeks for work, I would see loads of those types sitting in various stores and food courts "enjoying" free AC.
States is the same. Someone or some agency always has their hand in your pocket. It was one of the reasons I moved here. Went from constant bills to 2. Electric and Water. Our electric bill here is pretty consistently between 4 to 6k baht (~ $150 to $200) a month. It's gone up primarily as I work remotely 100% and use things requiring power. I have a few friends in California that also work remote as well and they spend $500 to $600 a month. Plus they have a fat mortgage payment and huge property tax bills. Our property tax here is a big zero.