Utility Bill Process

Unfortunately you are not the only one I have heard this story from. It seems quite common for landlords to try to get some extra for utilities...I say stand your ground and refuse to give her anything more than the agreed unless she can give you an invoice.

electricity and water bills are supposed to be sent out every 2 months, with the meters read every 6 months. did you agree a meter reading before you moved in ?

Yes I do remember my partner checking the meter actually so that should be written down somewhere. I'll check that when I get in tonight.

I see, so if bills are every 2 months, when she demanded 130 (60 more than agreed) on the first month, she probably hadn't even received a bill! Well hopefully we're able to check the meter ourselves- not sure how it works but I'll have a look tonight and see if I can work something out!

How much do people generally pay for these bills- are you both able to give a rough monthly figure? We don't really use the air con that much, and our cooker is gas which is filled via a cannister so I think 130 every month sounds quite high!

if you tell us how many units of electricity and how many m2 of water you've consumed, its easy to estimate the bill

your  bill could be 50 or 200 a month, depending on usage

If you and your landlord agreed to 70 each month on top of rent then give them that only. sounds like their trying to pull a fast one on you perhaps. when we moved into our flat we took the meter readings with our landlords. we have record of what the numbers were. they then took the readings the second month and gave us a bill. supposedly en-malta has a bill calculator or something on their site. i'll ask my husband about it, he's used it. anyhow, our water and electricity was only 35 euros for that first month. since its gone up, we all the sudden our landlords want 100 euros up front each month to cover the bills that supposedly come every 3 months. I didn't want to do this at first, but in the end we caved and are now paying them the 100 up front. every time they come by to pick up the rent money and utility money, they have taken the readings and we are to sign so we're all in agreement. the thing is we dont have copies of this. so i'im going to be asking for copies the next time they come for sure.

anyhow- for you to agree on 70 up front then for them to demand 130- they can go pound sand (to put it nicely lol). Be firm with them, they probably think they can take advantage because the billing process is not reliable and your foreigners. Start taking the readings every month I'd say.

Oh after all that I forgot to say that with the readings we had we went online to use that en-malta calculator and it seems like during the summer months, our water and electricity averaged to be about 80-100 euros a month. I'll find out what the link is and pass it on to you

This might help : mybill.com.mt/calculator
On the other hand, the Times of Malta has daily articles or letters about the inadequacy of the company (ARMS Ltd) in charge of issuing water and electricity bills and estimates. Some people have not been billed for over 6 months and the company is overwhelmed with complaints and incapable to cope properly.Lately, the Prime Minister apologized to the people about ARMS ! I would recommend reading the Times as a way to find out about what is happening on the island and consequences on your daily life. When I first moved to Malta 12 years ago I found it a great source of information and also addresses (but it was before internet!). Maybe your landlord is afraid that when a bill finally arrives, it will be so high that you cannot produce the amount upfront. Still, they should give you explanations and it goes against what you agreed upon.

We moved into our present appartment ( very modern with lots of halogene lights) in May and havn't seen a bill yet.
Our landlord will pass the bill(in his name) through to us.I check the meter once a month and have calculated ( without using the AC this year) around 80,-€ /month which we put back so be don't get a big shock when the bill arrives.
Last year ( in an old townhouse ) we had around 60,-€/month which we paid twice a year to the landlord when the bill came.

A lot of people are waiting for their bill at the moment.

Thanks everyone for all your help. My main worry is not getting the money back if we've been over charged! I'm sure it'll work out fine though, fingers crossed. Seems like a lot of people are having worries so it's best to pay a bit more every month than have a nasty shock in six months time, but an explanation from the landlady would help. She should have said 130 at the time rather than suggesting (and signing to agree with 70!) but its so hard to get a straight answer.

The most annoying thing is we can't get to the meter to read it. It's in a garage type room under our block and the doorway is always locked.

Worst comes to worst we will just with hold next months bill portion of the rent until a proper explanation is given!

Thanks again everyone, glad to know it's not only me whos having this trouble!

This is getting beyond a joke now. In our contract we agreed 70 a month. So far each month the landlady has demanded;
70
130
130
130
and this month she wants over 250!

I fail to see how a month where we have used NO aircon and don't have a heater, so we just use lights, tv and water. We work full time so aren't home much and these are all switched off at the mains so how can this month be 1. so huge 2. so much bigger than Summer!

Asked landlady for documentation and she said 'we'll read the metres together tomorrow' which indicates she doesn't even have a bill- after 5 months this seems odd.

So now shes saying she will take us to get a copy of the bill with the company tomorrow.

All seems a little dodgy to me to be honest, but she is so elusive, we cannot get in to read the meters ourself as they're in a locked garage that we don't have a key for.

Nightmare.
Will keep you updated, in the meantime would be great to know if anyone has experienced this too and what avenue of action they took? If we contact the company will they speak to us, as we are only tennants and not the owner?

We moved in here in May and havn't received a bill yet.

We are putting back 80,- € /month so we don't get a major shock when our landlord passes the bill on to us.

Your landlady must stick to what was agreed on and trust that you pay any difference that might occur when the bill for the appartment finally arrives. After all , you are paying the rent which is much more .

I wouldn't trust this landlady paying anything back to you if you overpay !

You really have to check the meter - at best monthly  - to follow your usage .

Ricky

Thats why we agreed 70 a month, we knew the bills came 2 monthly so it was like a savings pot for us. She just seems to demand a random higher figure each month and we've been naive or just accepting up until now. But asking around we are starting to question it.

When we moved in our meters said
water- 0088
electricity- 04672

and today;
water- do not know where this is.
electricity- 06193

We've been looking online and it seems there are two rates. Residential- bills are in your name and a reasonable rate. Or domestic- bills are in landlords name, the registered tennants are 0 and the rates are higher (but as the property is listed as unoccupied the landlord doesnt have to pay certain taxs etc).

Apparently domestic is common practise for leases of six months or less.

We used a calculator online and it told is
* if the landlord is doing it (illegally) on domestic then we actually owe her €124 for this month (not €250!)
* if the landlord is doing it legally residential then we don't owe anymore and actually are owed a few euros.

She is yet to show us any bill or estimation, up until now the meter bit has been locked but we managed to get in today so will keep an eye on the units.

Does anyone know the rates per unit for electricity and water? We've had trouble finding them.

Also, we don't have any receipt or record of what we've paid her each month- possibly very naive- if we need to contest the amounts we've paid, are we going to have difficulties do you think?

Really wish we'd taken this up sooner but we just kept assuming maybe we had used over 100 eur but this month we've used less electricity than ever, NO air con and its somehow shot up to 250- something clearly wrong!

Does anyone have a copy of an enemalta electricity bill by any chance? could you talk me through whats on it, does it have a break down or any information at all?

meeting the landlady tomorow to have it out properly, so hopefully something comes of it, but you're right ricky- getting any money we might be owed back is a lost cause!

The charge per unit is

0.173 at the residential rate + 65 € service charge
0,223 at domestic rate.

With 1521 units that makes 263,-€ + 65€/year? = 328 €.

You already paid 460,- € without this month.

Water in general isn't that much unless you are showering all the time and using the washing machine a few times a day .

I havn't seen a bill yet in our new place since May but in our old place it worked out fine following our consumption and paying the rates.

Even at the Domestic rate you should be on top !

Ricky

That .173 is not a flat rate - there are tiers relating to cumulative usage...this is what caught both us and our Landlord out, causing a much higher bill than either of us expected...but he was very open about it and dug deep into his own pocket to help resolve it. If your Landlord has just one meter that reports to Enemalta, and there are multiple tennants off that one meter (even with your own meter!) then the Bill your Landlord will have received will be at the much higher rate because of the cumulative usage of everyone on that one meter.

You need to make sure that you have individual meters that are reported to Enemalta.

Maybe that's not the issue here - but it certainly was with us...see my previous post on this forum for more details.

Tim

Hi Tim,

True .! I hope that is not the issue in our building as everybody has their own meter under the stairs.

Otherwise the rate could increase by 2 or 3 times . I don't think our fellow occupants ( Maltese) would accept that.So I'm hoping.

Ricky

Yeah - we had our own meter too - which enabled our Landlord to split his one huge bill up proportionately amongst us Tennants, but we all had to pay the higher rates as our cumulative consumption through the one meter that Enemalta billed through very quickly went up through the tiers to the higher rates. We are now all on our individual meters that Enemalta bills through - phew!

Sorry if this affects anyone else - but I did post a warning months ago when we ran into it!

Tim

I havent been following along all that closely and Ill get you the exact figures on saturday for my place but my wife and I only pay ( resident rate as teh electricity is in the property owners name not mine ) about 25-30 euro per month and have our own meter...  2 bedroom place, computers and fridge are always on and I think the teapot goes crazy but looks to me that you are getting screwed..

DO NOT PAY YOUR LANDLADY ANYTHING MORE!!

She is clearly taking advantage BIG TIME. It is quite normal to not have recieved a bill in months which is annoying. but if you agreed on 70, like I said before ONLY pay her that or the 130 that you have been in recent months if you feel comfortable doing that. But DO NOT pay her this 250 she's asking for now. For me, all nice-ness would be off and i'd flat out tell her that she's being ridiculous and that you are not paying her what she is asking. omg i just want to slap her for you!!

250 hell my rent is 300!

I also forgot to add that you should be getting some sort of receipt each month for your rent and what you pay for utilities. We do this with our landlords. They have a small notebook that they keep and every month when they come to collect the money for each, they have it written down that we paid on the on the day, we both sign (landlord and myself). They do the same for the utilities too. they write down the readings, how much we paid (we pay 100 euros up front each month) and again we both sign. I recently asked them for photocopies of everything, which my dog decided to eat a few weeks ago, so i'll have to do again. but you need to make sure your "arse* is covered sweetie, especially with how your landlord seems to be going about things!

Thanks for your help everyone! My partner is meeting with the landlady this afternoon. I think hes going to say we'll pay the 70 as agreed and until we can see some sort of bill or workings out we wont pay any more.

Also our let is up in Jan so we're definitely going to move and put a lot of this down to experience. Next time we will be far more active in keeping tabs on the electricity useage, standing up for ourselves and will definitely get receipts. I'm usually so anal and organised so I'm annoyed at myself that we weren't more careful but oh well. its annoying but not broken the bank and we've definitely learned for next time!

thanks again everyone

Hi everyone, I would like to share my experience with you..

I came to live in Malta 1st March 2014, I agreed a rent and to pay for utility bills monthly  at 50.00 euro per month, as I live alone I considered this fair and reasonable.
Every month my utilities and rent were paid to my landlord in cash and logged in a signed rent book..during my rental period I was away for 5 months working on an oversea's contract (NO ELECTRIC OR WATER CONSUMED) but still paid for to my landlord..a total of 500.00 euro's was paid in all. Considering my time actually spent there was probably less than 4 months of last year I expected to receive a considerable rebate from my landlord..Yet until now I have received nothing back, I have sent letters and emails requesting the settlement but to no avail.....

Can anyone advise on how to proceed to get my money back...

adrianbarry wrote:

Can anyone advise on how to proceed to get my money back...

Get down on your knees and pray might be your best option.

Have you received your deposit back from the landlord yet, is it just the utilities overspend you are waiting for? I presume you had to pay a deposit when you moved in. Did you take meter readings when you moved in and moved out of the property? If you know the exact number of units you used during your stay, you might have some hope. If you don't, forget it.

Has the landlord showed you a copy of the official bills from ARMS / Enemalta? Do you know if you were on the cheaper residential rate or the domestic one? Or was the landlord providing you with a home-made, hand-written electricity bill every few months?

all that On and Island has said...

do you even know if your landlord is actually paying the bills....?

All of that said before and one more important question :

What does your rental contract say ? Where you paying a fixed amount permonth or were you paying 'on account' against future electricity and water bills ?

Cheers
Ricky

Thanks (ON AN ISLAND)

Yeah regarding the deposit my landlord agreed with me to use this as my last payment, everything was left intact (NO DAMAGES) and I cleaned the place through out, even down to laundering the curtains, the place was gleaming, (MUCH CLEANER THAN I RECEIVED IT) even left lots of blooming flowers on the terrace.

I read the meter when I first arrived and have a copy of the outstanding bill. I also managed to get 2 copies during my stay and took the final reading the day I vacated, The landlord agreed verbally to make settlement when the final bill arrived, the date I left was 20th February, last month  I called and asked for settlement and was told the final bill was still not received, since then its letters and emails...(NO REPLIES)

Hello Ricky. thanks for your reply

I still have a copy of the agreement and have just checked the wording.....
All that it states is....

(A SUM OF 50 EURO IS TO BE PAID MONTHLY FOR THE CONSUMPTION OF WATER AND ELECTRICITY BILLS)

adrianbarry wrote:

(A SUM OF 50 EURO IS TO BE PAID MONTHLY FOR THE CONSUMPTION OF WATER AND ELECTRICITY BILLS)

WTF is that supposed to mean?? So if you had the A/C on 24 hours a day and the monthly bill was 300 euros, you would still only have top pay 50? It sounds like the contract was written on the bag of a fag packet, but that can be quite normal for here.

At least you got your deposit back. If ARMS have installed the new meter so that it is read automatically, the bills now arrive every 2 months I think, maybe 3, so your landlord should have had a bill since 20th Feb. In the old system, when the meter was read by hand, you only used to get one accurate bill a year, the rest were estimates. Keep trying to get in touch with your landlord, but if you're no longer in Malta and he knows that, the chances are he will just ignore you.

I am in Malta, this is where I live..