- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:15 06:31 12:06 15:11 17:35 18:51
Tenants will have to pay for their unit's air-conditioning, which was previously paid for by their landlords. (EB FILE)
The district cooling company serving residents of Dubai’s Discovery Gardens has issued warning to some buildings in the master development to pay their dues by November 9 or get ready to face a disconnection of chilled water supply.
In a notice posted in building No 54 of Discovery Gardens, Palm District Cooling (PDC), the provider of chilled water to the 291 buildings in Discovery Gardens, said: “We write to urgently bring to your attention the fact that there is owing on your account which has been outstanding for a period in excess of your agreed payment terms set out in your agreement.
“As per the notice on your invoice submitted to you this is in breach of your payment terms. You are, therefore, kindly requested to please clear the full outstanding dues by November 9, 2014, failure to receive the payment will lead to disconnected of chiller water services on November 10, 2014.
“Please note that in case of disconnection the reconnection service will only be done once the full outstanding amount on the property including the reconnection charges is being settled out as in the agreement.”
A list of defaulters, as of November 2, has been put up on the notice boards with one apartment having dues of over Dh72,000.
In fact, the number of units on the list has come down significantly, which reflects owners paying service charges on time.
It is not clear how many buildings are facing such disconnection threat, but security guards say that the notice has been put up on ‘quite a number’ of buildings.
Another notice issued by Nakheel Facilities and Owners Association Management on November 2 reads: “Please be informed that PDC has sent the attached notice of disconnection of utility services for your building effective November 10, 2014.
“As stated in the letter of Palm Utilities, disconnection is due to non-receipt of payment towards the Palm District cooling charges billed to your building. There are a number of unit owners in your building who have failed to pay the service charge resulting in huge arrears.
“Thus, your building has no sufficient funds to pay even the utility charges. The list of units with outstanding service charges has been made available in the notice board of your building.”
The notice added: “Nakheel Facilities and Owners Association Management assume no responsibility for the inconveniences that may be caused to the residents due to disruption of services as a result of non-payment.”
Unit owners in the master community pay chiller charges, which ranges between Dh5 and Dh7 per square feet along with their annual maintenance fees.
In 2013, Nakheel Owner’s Association Management had said that the BTU meters will allow consumption based billing for all tenants to pay for their own chiller water energy consumption (AC) and will ensure fair and accurate billing and enhance cost awareness.
The association stated that the installation of meters will trigger energy saving and the buildings will become more environment friendly with potential savings of 15 to 30 per cent of total consumption proven.
Discovery Gardens, a master community consisting of 291 buildings, has over 20,000 apartments, which today is over 95 per cent occupied.
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