Hi,

I have finally bought an apartment in dubai! Now I am trying to figure out exactly what bills I will incur monthly? I no I will have a mantainance fee to pay but I am unsure how much electric and water etc will be costing me each month? It is a 1bedroom apartment. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

It is all down to consumption but as a rough guide, we pay average a total of Dhs 500 to DEWA, which includes Electricity and Water for two 3 bedroom apartments. One of the apartments is occupied by permanently 1 adult, 2 kids, every so often one more adult or an occasional guest. The other apartment is also occupied by guests on and off who love to have the A/C on full blast and have endless showers. We have an electric cooker/oven and I use frequently washing machine and tumble dryer. I don't use the A/C very often, as you will find that in an apartment you don't get as much heat penetrating due to A/C's in corridors, so when opening your entrance door, you don't get a sudden burst of heat entering your place. Also, you are surrounded by other apartments, who will have their A/C's on. The apartment I live in, is on the top floor and only sharing one wall with a neighbour, so gets pretty exposed to heat from the rooftop and surrounding walls but insulation must be good, as the temperature now is around 21 C without A/C and it can unfortunately get even cooler during the winter months if it isn't a south facing apartment. A/C's in an apartment can easily be switched off while at work and can quickly be cooled to the desired temperature upon return. Some apartments have the costs of running the A/C's covered in the maintenance. Ours is partly covered, which means that we are not paying for the cooling of the water but only running the fan, which has a low consumption. Electricity charges are very high in the UK and I believe you can expect to pay less here for your bills or the same, depending on your other subscriptions like TV and Internet, which have different packages.

Congrats DorsetUK,
Where did you end up buying?
Whats the weather like back in Bournemouth ??
Cheers, JD

Thanks for your help. We ended up buying in the Marina and it should be ready september 2005 so we will be out there then! Weather in Bournemouth is wonderful with gusting winds and non-stop rain! Bring on September!

give us a shout when u make it out here.

used to live in Bournemouth area for a while myself so we are all great fans of Richard Carr here NOT!

Ooh, I think AC is the big part of the bill. My AC is included in my rent so my monthly electricity/water bill is only about 200 dirhams.

But JC's bar tab is more than your rent.

u might be right there.

Winter months see the decline in use of AC's or in some cases, people switch them off altogether as the 21 degree day time temps mean the houses are kept on very, very cool indeed. Night times are even colder now, bout 14 degrees and obviously u dont need an AC then.

Depends on whether or not ur AC is included in ur maintanance charges..... if it isnt, u will be looking at high bills during the summer if it isnt a chiller system. Bit complex, I know, but it is worth knowing wot kind of AC u have fitted in ur apartment block.

Electricity could be anywhere between AED500 - AED1K /month for a 1 bed I wud imagine.... water another AED350 - AED500 /month and sewage about AED150/month.

These are just estimates based on what we pay for a good size 3 bed flat. Hope that helps u out.