r/Bahrain • u/PerformanceNew8085 • 5d ago
☝️ AskBH Expat EWA
Hey guys i'm about to rent a 3 bedroom apartment. I'm an expat and wanna know about how much i'll be spending on EWA in the summer and winter.
Can people tell me the size of the apartments they live in and on average how much they usually spend on EWA as an expat?
I just wanna get an idea 🤔 so i can start budgeting.
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u/PerformanceNew8085 5d ago
what i'm understanding at this point is i should go for ewa inclusive haha, that's so much!!
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u/enimeuge 4d ago
Not really. You’re just getting answers from all over the place, and people living in villas generally pay more.
Here’s a simple trick ask the landlord or real estate agent to share the EWA bills for the apartment during the peak summer months and winter. That way, you can get a better idea of the actual costs. I did this last time, and it helped me understand how much the previous tenant was paying.
The EWA account is usually kept under the owner’s name, so it should be easy to get this information.
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u/ShallotEcstatic6419 5d ago
I pay BHD 150 monthly during summer for my villa ewa. Keep in my we are only 3 people. The more residents, the more the bill.
Last year my relatives visited me during summer, and all the 5 rooms were occupied with AC on most of the time. Boom got a BHD 320 EWA bill that month.
It all depends.
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u/enimeuge 5d ago
When it comes to apartments, there are mainly a few things to consider. If you live on the top floor of a high rise building, you'll experience significantly more heat during the summer, especially from the roof and sun facing walls. You'd be surprised by how much heat concrete retains. Similar apartments on the ground floor and lower levels can use around 30% less electricity for cooling. newer buildings have better insulation in the blockwork.
The other major factor is your air conditioning system. Large, ducted HVAC systems generally consume more electricity than individual mini split units. My previous apartment had a large, three phase ducted HVAC system that consumed a lot of electricity compared to a mini split.
so you see its very hard to give a ballpark without more specifics. also expats have to pay 10 percent of your rent to municipality with the ewa as well.
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u/Difficult-Egg3541 5d ago
Excellent point. May I also add that having the AC units cleaned 1-2 times a year helps reduce the bill. That’s often overlooked.
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u/Difficult-Egg3541 5d ago
The bill in a 1 bedroom on the ground floor facing north east costs about 45bd in EWA in August - on the basis that the owner covers part of the bill (which I didn’t count in the 45bd) + the municipality tax.
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u/AdImpressive9695 5d ago
2bhk and and my summer bill is like 110 and lowest in winter is 55ish.. Yearly average is 75-80/month
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u/Nervous_Street_2398 5d ago
Average for me is around 160-170 excluding Municipality charges. Its a 3 bedroom with 6 split ACs.
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u/Ok_Procedure177 5d ago
We have 5 rooms - 3 of them ACs are Switched on most of the time in Summers - we are a family of 10 - our water meter is shared = 250-300 BHD
In winters - there's hardly any AC switched on = 80-100 BD
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u/Additional_Skin_6866 5d ago
Depends on:
if ur flat is on a higher floor- it heats faster then more AC usage / Temp
Seperate water meters. This is betetr option
If you are tolerant to 23-24 deg AC then fine.
I stay on a top floor 2BHK and since at work all morning - I average around 70 BHD at peak summer
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u/AhmedAlkooheji مدينة عيسى 🗼 5d ago
3 bedroom expat is probably 70 bhd minimum. Goes up from there if a/c on rotation or not everyone goes to work/school. Inverter can only do so much if the a/c tonnage is lower so keep that in mind as well.
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u/Historical-Common530 5d ago
Pls ensure that your building has separate water meters for each apartment.