Your Empower bill: how to pay it and what you're charged for

How to check your Empower bill

• Online: log in to Empower's eServices (Empower, eServices).
• In the app: Empower's website links to an Empower app on the App Store (Empower, FAQs page footer; App Store link).
• By phone or email: for billing questions, Empower's helpdesk is +971 4 559 2888, or email billing@empower.ae (Empower, FAQs).

How to pay your Empower bill

Empower asks you to quote your 10-digit Empower account number with every payment (Empower, Payment Options). Its payment options are:

• Card: pay by credit card in Empower's eServices.
• Net banking (UAEPGS): through the Central Bank of the UAE's payment gateway, in Empower's eServices, for unit owners and tenants. Empower says this option has no additional fees and allocates the payment promptly. The maximum is AED 15,000 per transaction.
• Online and mobile banking: Emirates NBD online and mobile banking, ADCB mobile banking, ADCB's corporate internet banking portal (ProCash), and mPay in Dubai Now (register at mpay.dubai.ae).
• Cash: Emirates NBD cash deposit machines (choose the utility bill payment option) and Al Ansari Exchange branches across the UAE. You can also pay at an Emirates NBD ATM.
• Cheque: at Empower's customer service counters, made out to Empower. Counters are at Empower's head office in Al Jadaf, JBR (Murjan 1, Plaza Level), JLT (Al Mas Tower) and Business Bay (Executive Towers, Tower F). They open Monday to Thursday, 07:30 to 15:30, and Friday, 07:30 to 12:00.
• Bank transfer: to one of Empower's listed accounts, with your account number and invoice number in the description. Email the deposit slip to creditcontrol@empower.ae.

Source for all of the above: Empower, Payment Options.

What's on an Empower bill

Empower lists these charges (Empower, Charges Explanation):

• Demand charge. A recurring annual charge for providing district cooling to your unit: AED 750 per refrigeration ton (RT) a year, billed monthly in advance by the number of days in the month. Empower's example: a 6 RT unit pays AED 4,500 a year, and AED 387.50 for January (4,500 ÷ 365 × 31).
• Consumption charge. Your cooling use as recorded by your unit's meter, billed in arrears on the bill cycle.
• Fuel surcharge. District cooling companies pass on to customers the tariff increases and the actual fuel surcharge notified by DEWA from time to time.
• Meter maintenance. AED 50 every 3 months, or AED 30 a month, depending on the location, for reading, testing and maintaining the meter.
• Connection charge. A one-time charge at registration, where it applies.
• VAT at 5% on each charge and service.

How many RT you pay for is set by the developer, based on your unit's area and type (Empower, FAQs). In Dubai, the regulator says a unit's capacity charge must be based strictly on the unit's allocated share of the building's contracted capacity, not on the equipment installed (RSB Dubai, RD10). Our guide explains this in more detail: District cooling charges in Dubai.

Empower's charges calculator works out demand and consumption charges for a month or a year (Empower, Charges Calculator).

When is an Empower bill due

What Empower says about unpaid bills (Empower, Charges Explanation):

• If the service is disconnected for non-payment, Empower charges a disconnection fee of AED 500, for homes and businesses alike.
• Reconnection happens only after the full outstanding amount, including that fee, is paid, and the registered account holder asks for it.

Why your Empower bill went up

• You used more cooling. The consumption charge follows your meter, and you are billed on actual use (Empower, FAQs).
• The demand charge doesn't fall when you're away. It is a fixed annual charge billed monthly. Even if you ask Empower to disconnect for a while (AED 150 each time), the demand charge and the meter maintenance fee keep being charged (Empower, Charges Explanation).
• A 31-day month. The monthly demand charge is worked out by the number of days in the month (Empower, Charges Explanation).
• Tariff changes. Empower says its charges are linked to the cost of inputs and inflation and can be revised, and it passes on fuel surcharge changes notified by DEWA (Empower, FAQs; Empower, Charges Explanation).

To use less, Empower suggests setting your thermostat carefully, reducing cooling lost through windows and doors, and turning the cooling off when you don't need it (Empower, FAQs). If you think the meter is wrong, Empower will test it; the test costs AED 160 only if the meter is found to have no fault (Empower, Charges Explanation). For problems with the cooling itself, Empower asks you to contact your building's facility management (Empower, FAQs).

Get a reminder before your Empower bill is due

Rasid is an app that keeps household bills and subscriptions in one place. For Empower it can:

• Track the bill. Add Empower by hand from Rasid's list of UAE providers, or connect Gmail with read-only access. Rasid then looks for the bills Empower emails you and reads the amount and, when the email shows it, the due date.
• Remind you before it's due. For a bill with a due date, Rasid sends a reminder three days before, at 10:00.
• Show what changed. Once Rasid has more than one Empower bill, the bill's screen shows recent bills side by side, the average, and how much more or less this bill is than the last.
• Send you to Empower to pay. If the payment link in an Empower email can be confirmed as Empower's own, the bill shows a Pay button that opens Empower's page. You can also mark the bill as paid.

Rasid does not pay bills. You pay Empower directly, through Empower's own channels. Rasid's Gmail access is read-only, so it cannot send, delete or change your email.