# Dewa



## jagatr (Feb 27, 2011)

Hi all,

Got my first DEWA bill today - a whopping 750/- for a one bedroom apartment in Al Barsha where I live alone. 

The fee break up:

Water - 100
Housing Fee - 200
Electricity - 450

Is this normal? Can I do anything about this?

I thought I may have a faulty meter and complained to DEWA - they sent a couple of disinterested technicians who cast a cursory glance at the meter, declared it fully functional and then yelled at me for wasting their time 


J.


----------



## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

Hi J.

It does seem excessive for a 1 bedroom. Do you know how much others pay at your building for a flat of the same size? Might be worth asking them since you don't have bills from previous months to compare to  Once you get some numbers from your neighbours you will have to go to thew DEWA offices near Wafi and talk to a ehm, 'customer service rep' to see what can be done. Good luck


----------



## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

If you're asking if it's normal for DEWA to rob you, the answer is emphatically yes.

Letters to the editor, My DEWA?bill has quadrupled - why? | 7DAYS


----------



## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Today itself i read 4 complaints in different forums about DEWA bills suddenly jumping. Nothing wrong with paying for what we use, however it does seem sad that some people actually waste it as they get it for cheap rates while others have to pay high rates even if they dont use that much


----------



## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

jagatr said:


> they sent a couple of disinterested technicians who cast a cursory glance at the meter, declared it fully functional and then yelled at me for wasting their time
> 
> 
> J.



Dont you love it; yelling for having to their job when they could have just smoked cigarettes and spent time by discussing politics and revolutions


----------



## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Welcome to Dubai! Soon to be a ghost town at least in the summer!


----------



## jagatr (Feb 27, 2011)

Great insights - now how about a bit of advice too. Seriously, is there some authority I can lodge a complaint with? Ask for the meter to be changed? 

FYI, the apartment next to mine is a 2 bedroom and they have 3 people living there who use the A/C all the time....their bill amounted to a very reasonable 550/-


I know its fun to dis the authorities and all that sort of thing, but can we have some helpful suggestions too? Please! 

J


----------



## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

jagatr said:


> Great insights - now how about a bit of advice too. Seriously, is there some authority I can lodge a complaint with? Ask for the meter to be changed?
> 
> FYI, the apartment next to mine is a 2 bedroom and they have 3 people living there who use the A/C all the time....their bill amounted to a very reasonable 550/-
> 
> ...


Well I gave you a 'helpful suggestion', sorry if you don't like it  



> Might be worth asking them since you don't have bills from previous months to compare to Once you get some numbers from your neighbours you will have to go to thew DEWA offices near Wafi and talk to a ehm, 'customer service rep' to see what can be done.


----------



## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

And the authority you speak of would be DEWA. I don't think you can go and complain about DEWA somewhere else


----------



## jagatr (Feb 27, 2011)

dizzyizzy said:


> Well I gave you a 'helpful suggestion', sorry if you don't like it


My apologies dizzy...I did appreciate that, and do intend to follow that advice today. 

J


----------



## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

jagatr said:


> My apologies dizzy...I did appreciate that, and do intend to follow that advice today.
> 
> J


No worries, and arm yourself with a lot of patience, welcome to Dubai!


----------



## Kawasutra (May 2, 2011)

jagatr said:


> Great insights - now how about a bit of advice too. Seriously, is there some authority I can lodge a complaint with? Ask for the meter to be changed?
> 
> FYI, the apartment next to mine is a 2 bedroom and they have 3 people living there who use the A/C all the time....their bill amounted to a very reasonable 550/-
> 
> ...


First of all ,if you have acces to the water and elecrticity meter, shut every thing off that consumes water and electricity and check if the meters are still running. They should not. If they are not running note down the meter reading at the beginning of the billing period and at the end and compare it with the DEWA bill.


----------



## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

jagatr - what's the date range on your DEWA bill? I wouldn't put it past them charging you the previous tenants months on top of yours.


----------



## jagatr (Feb 27, 2011)

dizzyizzy said:


> No worries, and arm yourself with a lot of patience, welcome to Dubai!


Patience is my middle name - just dont use it too often


----------



## jagatr (Feb 27, 2011)

zin said:


> jagatr - what's the date range on your DEWA bill? I wouldn't put it past them charging you the previous tenants months on top of yours.


I checked that already Zin - all OK on that front


----------



## jagatr (Feb 27, 2011)

Kawasutra said:


> First of all ,if you have acces to the water and elecrticity meter, shut every thing off that consumes water and electricity and check if the meters are still running. They should not. If they are not running note down the meter reading at the beginning of the billing period and at the end and compare it with the DEWA bill.


That sounds like a good idea Kawa...thanks


----------



## Rutilius (Jan 22, 2011)

*sigh* our very lovely DEWA!

I've blasted them with a couple of KWh calculations when my bill exceeded the capabilities of all my appliances consuming power 24x7. They took a while to figure it out. scratched their heads over it and slashed my next month bill by 80%. Of course I did end up paying their goofed up earlier bill.


----------



## jagatr (Feb 27, 2011)

Rutilius said:


> *sigh* our very lovely DEWA!
> 
> I've blasted them with a couple of KWh calculations when my bill exceeded the capabilities of all my appliances consuming power 24x7. They took a while to figure it out. scratched their heads over it and slashed my next month bill by 80%. Of course I did end up paying their goofed up earlier bill.


That's sound advice Rutilius - thank you!!!


----------



## readmetwice (Jul 24, 2011)

*Dewa High Consumption Mistakes*

Huge water meter reading problem with a 1 bed in Motor City, whooping 2,300dhs for 7 weeks!

Motor City 1 bed Breakdown:
Electricity: 102
Water: 1,794
Sewage: 188
Housing fee: 216

JBR 2 bed Breakdown:
Electricity/Water/Sewage: 153 to 295
Housing fee: 480

JBR 4 bed plus maid's Duplex:
1,500 to 2,000

I filed a "high consumption" complaint with their High consumption department over 1 month ago and have only received disconnection notices if I don't pay my bill. I visited their Jumeirah office only to be told to go to headquarters in Health Care City. After waiting for 2 hours at HQ, I was \told to pay part of the bill and "will take some time", in addition to the standard random remarks like "its amount the owner or old tenant owes but got charged to you". They did admit to the meter reading being way, way off base for my apartment size yet no pressing urgency to fix it. Via email I received one apologetic email and promise to take care of it in 3 days, over 1 week later, nothing. 

Over a \lunch heard from fellow executives of one person who installed a meter in his villa adjacent to the DEWA meter and saw the DEWA meter running faster than his. That would explain the recent sudden spike in DEWA costs. 

Shameful backhanded way to insert fees. Reflects poorly on Dubai, that other than utility services I am a huge huge ambassador for.


----------



## Kawasutra (May 2, 2011)

foodfan said:


> Huge water meter reading problem with a 1 bed in Motor City, whooping 2,300dhs for 7 weeks!
> 
> Motor City 1 bed Breakdown:
> Electricity: 102
> ...


I heard of some problems with EMICOOL that their consumption charges are high.
But not from DEWA, this must be a unique issue of your flat. The water consumption is way off and there must be a serious problem with the meter or any leak somewhere. Just in case you can check the Motor City Forum (google).


----------



## readmetwice (Jul 24, 2011)

Yup, lucky winner of a water meter issue. Took a look at the DMMC blog already but only found posts about EMICOOL, the charges of which are also on the high end even vs. Empower because of their annual cooling charge of about 2,500 for a 1 bed. 

Thanks for the reply. 



Kawasutra said:


> I heard of some problems with EMICOOL that their consumption charges are high.
> But not from DEWA, this must be a unique issue of your flat. The water consumption is way off and there must be a serious problem with the meter or any leak somewhere. Just in case you can check the Motor City Forum (google).


----------



## JBY (May 17, 2011)

Used to Stay in Dubai Marina last year, I had the same problem with my MEter, i know for a fact my neighbors used to pay about 30% less than us (they had bigger families). for a 1Bed my Bill used to average 650AED per month, which was pathetic considering we were barely at home, and even so most the lights were off most of the time as we try to conserve, we even purchased the water conservation taps, not much electronics other than TV, dvd player, etc. 

Even at times when we were on vacation the bill used to be 450AED! , at some point i was like enough is enough, and lodged a complaint for DEWA to replace my meter, but it never happened. Eventually they credited about AED200 to me as compensation but obviously it was no where near what i paid in extra charges.

In conclusion, there isn't much you can do, other than complain to DEWA (constantly) and you MIGHT get a result although not a satisfactory one. I am convinced that alot of the Digital Meters are faulty or rigged, there is no other explanation. Also alot of times the Ppl chking the meters Don't actually check it (lazy employees), they just decide on an average consumption. So MAKE sure you go to your meter room and chk it yourself!


----------

