Water and electricity are billed together by ARMS on a single account. The system is simple once you know one thing. What you pay depends on whether ARMS knows people live in the property, and how many.
If the registration is right, the bill is normal. If it is wrong, the bill can be alarming.
How the billing works
Register the occupants
Tariffs are banded and the bands depend on the number of registered residents. An unregistered or under-registered property is billed at a worse rate.
This is the single most common reason a newcomer gets a bill they did not expect.
Your first month
August is the expensive month
Air conditioning through a Maltese summer changes the bill completely. The banded tariff means heavy use is charged at a higher rate.
Budget for it from the start rather than being surprised by the first hot quarter.
What a month costs
The tap water is safe to drink
Tap water is safe to drink. Most of it comes from reverse osmosis, which is why it tastes strongly of minerals and why many people filter it.
That is taste rather than safety, and bottled water is a preference rather than a necessity.
Know before you go
Residential versus domestic
A property with residents registered on the account is billed at the residential tariff, which is cheaper and carries an eco-reduction. A property with nobody registered is billed as domestic, at higher rates and without that discount. The eco-reduction itself scales with the number of people registered, because the consumption allowances are per person.
This is the single most commonly missed saving in Malta. Your registration does not follow you when you move: until you file the form for the new address you remain registered at the old one. The new property may sit on the wrong tariff entirely. If four people live somewhere and one is registered, you are paying for allowances you are entitled to and not receiving.
Worth knowing
- What you may register
- One primary residence, one secondary residence, and one garage up to 50 square metres used privately and not commercially.
- Billing is periodic
- Bills arrive on a cycle rather than monthly, and estimated readings are common. Submitting your own meter reading avoids an estimate that has to be corrected later.
- Consumption is banded
- Electricity is charged in rising bands over the year, so heavy summer use pushes later consumption into a more expensive band rather than being averaged.
- If you rent
- Check whether the account is in your name at the residential tariff, or whether the landlord bills you at a mark-up. The difference over a summer is substantial. It is a fair question to ask before signing.
The August bill
Air conditioning in a stone building through July and August is the largest utility cost most households face. The bill surprises nearly every new arrival. Winter brings the opposite problem: buildings are built to shed heat and are cold and damp inside, and heating and dehumidifying carry their own cost.
Tariffs, the registration forms and account management are handled by ARMS. Rates and eco-reduction thresholds are revised, so take the current figures from them rather than from any guide.