UAE | Housing & Property

AC does it: Cooling bill raises heat

Gardens resident sweats over 118 per cent jump in December cooling charges when Dubai temperatures hovered around 16C

  • By Anjana Kumar, Staff reporter, XPRESS
  • Published: 00:00 February 9, 2012
  • XPRESS

  • Image Credit: © XPRESS /Anjana Kumar
  • Dillon was shocked to see her December cooling fee balloon to a shocking Dh1,449, above, from Dh662 in November
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DUBAI: Air conditioning bills are usually directly proportional to the weather. As the mercury comes down, one would expect the cooling bills to come down too. But in The Gardens the opposite happened.

From Dh662 in November 2011, Briton Nahraan Suzy Dillon's bills jumped to Dh1,449 in nippy December when temperatures in Dubai were hovering around 16 degrees Celsius.

Horrified by the 118 per cent increase, Dillon has joined a chorus of Dubai residents fuming over the ‘obscure calculation' of the cooling charges.

Dillon, who lives in a three-bedroom apartment in The Gardens, also owns a one-bedroom unit in Discovery Gardens.

Here too the cooling charges spiked sharply. She was billed a total of Dh3,771.68 for nine months from January 1, 2010 to September 30, 2010 - an average of Dh419 per month. But for the same period the following year, she was billed Dh6,379 - or about Dh530 per month.

"The pro-rata hike in charges is around 70 per cent. These bills are for the winter months when practically there has been no use of air-conditioners. I live alone and have a full-time job, there is absolutely no reason for such high increase in bills," she said.

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Residents in other communities are also losing their cool over steep district cooling rates.

Mohammad Metwally, Chairman, Interim Owners Association (IOA) at Al Seef Tower 2 in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), said: "For our building, we have seen a 50 per cent increase in cooling charges in 2011 compared to 2010. We are still finalising the audit for last year, but I can say that we have incurred an operating loss due to this massive hike."

He said additional capacity charges have increased the burden for district cooling consumers.

He called for the government to regulate the industry to protect consumers. "We need a regulatory body to monitor rates [charged] on customers. The body must review and approve contracts to ensure a balance between utility companies and consumers' interests."

Comments (9)

Comment

  1. Added 13:35 February 9, 2012

    Authorities should interfere where such companies disregard the customers and charge such huge amounts without any reason.

    Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  2. Added 12:13 February 9, 2012

    I fully understand the high Dewa bills. I too have been getting high bills although we don't switch on the AC at all, both during the day and at night, especially during winters. I live with my husband and two children in Silver Sands 3, Bur Dubai. All of us are out during the day at work. We all sleep off around 10.30pm, but still our bill is always in the range of Dh1,500-Dh1,800. I had requested Dewa to check our electric and water meters. But they charged me another Dh30 for checking and told me that the meters were in order. What I dont understand is: without consumption how can the meters show readings that translate to such high bills? I am at a loss and dont know whom to approach. I really hope the authorities can look into this problem.

    Padma Sudhakar, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  3. Added 11:55 February 9, 2012

    I faced the same issue in The gardens. I was paying Dh642 per month for a three-bedroom apartment. However, now for the last two months I have been billed for Dh1,423 /month for cooling only -- an increase by 123 per cent. This does not make any sense. Hafis, Dubai

    Hafis, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  4. Added 10:54 February 9, 2012

    First it was the rising rents that was killing us... we had a respite since we had booked our apartment at a low rent. However, that reprieve was also taken away when Nakheel decided to make it as per market rates.. Now this apartment is costing us much higher than the normal rents due to the exhorbitant cooling fees.. Though we don't use A/C in the house, we are paying to cool unwanted passages in the building. Wish Nakheel would consider some steps to bring the cooling fees down...

    Shaheen Sheikh, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  5. Added 10:17 February 9, 2012

    I live in gardens too and we were equally shocked with this increase. We do not use AC from November till March. This is a totally an unacceptable move by the management. Gardens authority reduced the rents last year according to market rates, but removed the security, and to compensate this they have increased the cooling charges. I hope authorities can do something to safeguard the rights of the residents here.

    Juby, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  6. Added 09:39 February 9, 2012

    Who needs to cool down their houses in December? Energy waste! I switch off my ACs in December.

    Mia, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  7. Added 08:58 February 9, 2012

    I live in Discovery Gardens and the bills are killing. The government should intervene with cooling operators to cap rates.

    Shanti R, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

  8. Added 08:46 February 9, 2012

    I fully agree that while cooling expenses are supposed to be correlated to the weather, cooling companies seem to hike up proportionately in winter such that the monthly billings remain almost flat througout the year. In the winter of 2010/2011, I remember paying as low as Dh250 per month, while in 2011/2012, I am paying close to Dh900 per month when the cooling system is off more than 95 per cent of the time.

    Najmul Ehsan, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  9. Added 02:31 February 9, 2012

    I hope the government can step up and put some control on the pricing of cooling companies' fees. It's just ridiculous that we have to pay high bills for something that is a necessity to have here especially in the summer. I always thought that district cooling saves up to 50 per cent of power in comparison to traditional AC units. I have personally bought a portable AC unit to my apartment in JLT and I am surprised that I ended up paying much less to what I used to pay to a cooling company!

    Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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