Dubai's Utility Bills: How My Chef's Salary Disappeared Into Air Conditioning
so i just got my electricity bill for the month and nearly choked on my shawarma. this city has a way of making you feel like you're swimming in gold, then slapping you with a bill that could feed a small village for a week. as a chef working in one of dubai's many hotel kitchens, i've learned to calculate costs down to the last dirham, but even i was shocked by what utilities actually cost here.
the weather here is basically like being in a permanent hairdryer set to "high." one minute you're walking to work, sweating through my chef's whites, the next i'm seeking refuge in a shopping mall that's so cold you need a jacket. it's 45°C (113°F) outside but 18°C (64°F) inside the malls - a climate that makes your body forget what normal temperatures feel like. abu dhabi is just a 90-minute drive away if you need a break from the skyscrapers, and oman is a quick flight if you want to see some actual greenery. even sharjah is close enough for a day trip when you're craving something that doesn't involve gold-plated everything.
"heard from a guy who works at DEWA that the average household uses about 20,000 kWh per year - mostly on AC. he said they're cracking down on solar panel installations too, so good luck saving money that way."
"this arab guy at the souk told me 'water in dubai costs more than petrol back in my village.' i didn't believe him until i saw my water bill."
if you're gonna live here, make friends with someone who works at a hotel - they get discounts on everything from electricity to groceries. also, never underestimate the power of negotiating with your landlord about service charges. electricity runs about 0.30 AED per kWh, which doesn't sound bad until you realize you're running AC 24/7 in 40+ degree heat. water costs around 3 AED per 1,000 gallons, which adds up when you're constantly showering to cool off. internet is around 300 AED/month for high-speed, which isn't too bad considering you need it to survive the 45°C heat when you're not at work. most places use electricity instead of gas, so that's a small relief.
being a chef here is weird - i can cook gourmet meals for 50 people without breaking a sweat, but my own electricity bill makes me want to cry. the safety in dubai is unreal though - you can walk around at 2am and feel totally safe, which is something you can't say about many cities. rent is brutal though - a decent one-bedroom in a decent area will run you at least 80,000 AED a year, and that's before utilities. the job market's good if you're in hospitality or tech, but everything's expensive as hell.
check out this dubai subreddit if you want real talk from people living here. for official utility info, DEWA's website has all the boring details. if you're looking for good eats, yelp's dubai restaurant section won't steer you wrong. and for tourist stuff, tripadvisor's dubai page has the basics covered. at the end of the day, dubai's a place of extremes - extreme heat, extreme luxury, and extreme utility bills. if you can handle the AC bill, it's actually a pretty sweet place to live. just make sure you negotiate that rent before you sign anything.
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