Electricity & Water
The official rates for utilities can be found here: www.aqualectra.com
Depending which accommodation you book, prices per m³ of water, as well as for kWh/electricity can vary quite a lot. A staggering amount of properties charge 0,50Euro/kWh, when the official tariff for the current month, actually is way lower (0.32Euro/kWh for up to 250kwh, 0.38 Euro/kWh for 250-350kwh and above 350kwh 0.40Euro/kwh).
If you are savvy, this means you are still paying above the highest rate that the utility company charges the owners. The same goes for water usage. About 7.50Euro-9Euro/m³ is charged by property owners.
At our accommodations, we generally only charge exactly what has been consumed, at the official rates. The meter readings are taken by our property manager at the beginning of your stay, as well as at the end of your stay. We then use the official monthly valid tariff to calculate the utilities, accurately.
For example with an electricity usage of 84kwh and a water usage of 5m3 for the stay of seven days, with two adults, this would signify the following: 84 * 0.5 = 42€
5m3 x 7.50€ = 37.50€ total utilities charged by owners: 79.50€/week the average stay is 14 days so 159€ total in utilities. With some houses even charging 0.65€/kWh and 10€/m3, it’s even a bigger difference in price. 209.20€/2 weeks charged by owners while the official tariffs would be 100.76€ – an overcharge of 108.44€/2 weeks stay.
Now if we take the official tariffs the calculation is as following:
84kwh * 0.32€ = 26.88€
5m3 * 4.70€ = 23.50€
Total utilities according to official rates: 50.38€/week for two adults. Average stay is 14 days, so a total of 100.76€.
So a price difference of 58.24€ for a stay of two weeks. Of course the price difference increases with every additional day/week stayed. So before you make a commitment to an accommodation be sure to ask which rate they are using for the calculation of the utility usage. It can make a huge difference. Despite this approach being taken by a vast amount of owners, it is not legal, nor justifiable.
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