Is There A “Foreigner” Rate For Electricity And Water ?

It’s a well known fact that Laos has one of the world lowest electricity rates. However, there is always a lot of talk about ‘foreigner rates’ for residential power and water supplies. So is there a special rate for expats ? The answers may indeed surprise some people.

It turns out that residential properties, businesses, industry and embassies are charged at different rates but there are no pricing differences for foreigners or Lao citizens. If you are not conducting business in your house you should be paying the lowest rate (see below). Unfortunately, sometimes you may rent a house in which the previous tenants conducted business. The landlord may not yet have informed the authorities that it is now a residential property and you will still be charged business rates.

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For 2018, the charges for residential houses are as following:

From   0 to  25 Kwh: Kip 348

From 26 to 150 Kwh: Kip 414

From 151 to 300 Kwh: Kip 799

From 301 to 400 Kwh: Kip 880

From 401 to 500 Kwh: Kip 965

More than 500 Kwh: Kip 999

Regarding the water supply – everybody is charged at exactly the same rate be it business, residential, Lao citizen or foreigner.