Landlord charging district cooling based on "occupied units" and refusing to share bill - is this normal/legal?

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Hey all,

Looking for some advice here as I’ve just moved into a new apartment in Dubai and something feels off with how the AC (district cooling) is being charged.

I received a “cooling bill” for March totaling ~705 AED, broken down roughly into:

- ~269 AED consumption

- ~436 AED demand charge

I have a 2BHK which is only around 1,200sqft

The key issue is how they say it’s calculated:

“The total building consumption is distributed proportionally among the occupied units based on unit type and area.”

A few concerns:

1. Occupied units only

From my understanding, this means if some units are vacant, the cost is effectively redistributed to tenants who are living there. So I’m potentially paying more because others aren’t occupying their units?

2. Not billed directly by Empower

This isn’t coming directly from Empower — it’s from the building management, and payment is to a personal bank account (not a company/utility account).

3. No transparency at all

I asked them for:

- The total building Empower bill

- How many units the cost is split across

- The allocation methodology

They’ve refused to share the underlying bill or any real breakdown.

4. Nothing in my contract

I checked my tenancy agreement and Ejari — there’s no mention of:

- Shared cooling allocation

- Being billed based on building consumption

- Or anything about “occupied units”

Where I’m at:

I haven’t refused to pay — I’ve just told them I need a clear breakdown before proceeding.

They’re still refusing to provide it.

Questions:

- Is it normal in Dubai to charge cooling based only on occupied units?

- Are landlords allowed to refuse to show the underlying Empower bill?

- If nothing is mentioned in the contract, can they just apply this kind of billing method?

- Has anyone successfully challenged something like this?

My gut feeling:

I understand shared district cooling exists, but:

- Charging only occupied tenants seems off

- Refusing transparency seems worse

- And the payment setup doesn’t feel very “official”

Would really appreciate any advice from people who’ve dealt with this or know how this is supposed to work in Dubai.

Thanks 🙏