DEWA, chiller and district cooling: the bills behind a Dubai home

A Dubai tenancy produces more than one utility account. DEWA covers electricity and water, and carries the Dubai Municipality housing fee on the same statement. Cooling is often billed by a separate company the occupant never chose, at a tariff approved by the Supreme Council of Energy.

Most of the figures can be established before anyone signs. DEWA's refundable security deposit is AED 2,000 for a flat and AED 4,000 for a villa, with activation charges of AED 155 on a small meter. The housing fee is 5 per cent of the annual rent. The cooling bill splits into a fixed capacity charge and a metered consumption charge, and only the second falls when the flat sits empty.

What DEWA takes before the supply is switched on

Move-in is integrated with Ejari, so a tenant outside the free zones usually applies for nothing. Once the Ejari certificate is issued, DEWA creates the account and emails the account number, the deposit amount and a payment link. Supply follows within 15 working hours of payment. Free zone premises exempt from Ejari are the exception, and those tenants apply to DEWA themselves.

For residential premises the deposit is set by property type. For non-residential premises DEWA calculates it from the premises' consumption. Owners are treated differently: an owner's deposit is refunded on sale of the premises only. Landlords also pay a deposit for premises under maintenance.

Thukher cardholders, senior citizens aged 60 and above, and Sanad cardholders, issued to People of Determination, receive a 50 per cent discount on activation charges.

The 5 per cent on the DEWA bill is not VAT

The UAE government portal states the rule directly: tenants pay housing fees to Dubai Municipality at 5 per cent of the yearly rental charges, added to the monthly electricity and water bills. Dubai Land Department is blunter about the confusion the line causes.

The amount follows the rent registered on Ejari. If the rent drops at renewal the fee does not correct itself, and Dubai Municipality runs a service called Apply to Amend Dubai Municipality Housing Fees for exactly that. Registering the Ejari contract costs AED 100 plus AED 10 knowledge and AED 10 innovation fees through the Dubai REST app, or AED 120 at a trustee centre plus service partners' fees of AED 95 and VAT.

Two charges, one cooling bill

The regulator defines the capacity tariff as a unit charge in dirhams per year for each refrigeration ton of cooling capacity made available, and the consumption tariff as the charge for each refrigeration-ton-hour used. Emicool's own guidance is explicit that the annual capacity charge is divided into twelve monthly payments and paid regardless of connection or consumption. Empty flats still pay.

A unit's contracted capacity is its allocated share of the building's. Permit holders are prohibited from charging above that share, from assigning capacity on the basis of installed equipment capacity, and from allocating it among units inconsistently. If the fan coil units were oversized at fit-out, that is not supposed to become the resident's annual charge.

What the regulator caps, and what it leaves open

The framework is Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2021, issued in Dubai on 4 March 2021. The Regulatory and Supervisory Bureau for the Electricity and Water Sector issues permits and writes the regulations. The Supreme Council of Energy approves the money. Article 12(b) is short: no permit holder may collect any charge from a customer unless the Council has approved it. The tariff regulation, RD10, reached version 1.4 on 6 February 2026.

The capacity tariff itself carries no emirate-wide cap. It is assessed system by system and written into Schedule 3 of the provider's permit. RD10 adds one constraint: arrangements that index or escalate capacity charges will not be approved. One line matters more than most to residents. The inefficient building penalty for low delta-T may never be applied in bills charged to units.

Empower, Emicool and the tariff you cannot look up

Empower holds district cooling permit number 30-2022, first granted on 28 December 2022. Schedule 1 names its plants and their authorised capacity, from Business Bay and Jumeirah Beach Residence to DIFC, Jumeirah Village and Meydan. Schedule 2, the buildings, and Schedule 3, the approved tariffs, carry the same line in the published version: "Provided separately and not published at this stage." Residents cannot read their own tariff off the regulator's website.

Empower's prospectus of 24 October 2022 does set out rates: a demand charge unchanged at AED 750 per RT per annum since inception, running to AED 900 on assets the group had acquired, a consumption charge of AED 0.568 per ton-hour from 2011, a fuel surcharge of AED 0.047 to AED 0.083, and a one-time connection fee of AED 2,000 per unit. The cap arithmetic is visible there, since 0.568 plus 0.075 is exactly 0.643. Confirm the current rate with the provider.

Emicool, a joint venture between Dubai Investments and Actis established in 2003, publishes its registration terms. Its refundable deposit is eight months of the contracted capacity charge, the regulator's ceiling. Activation is a one-time AED 200. Invoices are issued on the first of each month and due within 15 days, with an AED 100 late fee.

Who pays which

Dubai's tenancy law settles less than people expect, because it defers to the contract. Article 22 of Law No. (26) of 2007 provides that unless the lease states otherwise, the tenant pays all fees and taxes due to Government entities for use of the property. Article 16 puts maintenance on the landlord, again unless agreed otherwise. Neither was touched by the 2008 amending law. The chiller capacity charge sits wherever the lease puts it.

Two rules narrow the argument. Where a building has no individual metering, Dubai Land Department notes that a tenant may be asked for a contribution to air conditioning fees, collected by the developer or owners association rather than a utility provider. Common area charges must be billed to the service provider's own customer, never redirected to unit occupants except through the service charge. One point cannot be varied by agreement: the owner may not disconnect electricity and water from the tenant.

Moving out

DEWA charges AED 125 to disconnect on small meters or AED 300 on large meters, plus the two AED 10 fees. Deactivation happens within 24 working hours of the chosen date and time, and DEWA counts working hours as Monday to Saturday, 07:00 to 20:00. The final bill follows by email, with the deposit set against it. Refunds go by IBAN up to AED 200,000 and by cheque above that. The clearance certificate then reaches the tenant and RERA automatically, which is what lets Ejari cancellation proceed. A cooling deposit must be returned within 5 working days.

If the bill looks wrong

Cooling bills must be issued monthly in English and Arabic, carrying the meter serial number, the contracted capacity in tons, the billing period, and the date and value of the previous and current readings. Estimated figures must be marked with an "E". A provider may estimate for two billing cycles at most; if it has not repaired a faulty sub-meter by then, it may bill no consumption charges at all until the meter works. Ask for the readings, not the total.

A customer may ask for the master meter to be tested by an independent third party. Within a 3 per cent tolerance the customer pays for the test, otherwise the provider does. Meters installed after 29 March 2023 must meet European Standard EN 1434, the Dubai Building Code (2021) at section H4.14.4, and UAE Cabinet Decision (140) of 2023. Complaints go to the provider first, and to the bureau only once that route is exhausted. Executive Council Resolution No. (87) of 2025 sets the fine for collecting unapproved charges at AED 100,000.

Before signing for a chiller-paid unit, get the contracted capacity in refrigeration tons in writing, multiply it by the approved capacity tariff, and divide by twelve. That figure is payable every month whether anyone is in the flat or not.