An expatriate household in Abu Dhabi pays AED 7.84 per cubic metre for its first band of water, 3.75 times the AED 2.09 charged to UAE nationals, under the TAQA Distribution tariff in force since 1 January 2025. Above that band, expatriates pay AED 10.41 and nationals AED 2.60.
Bands set by daily use
The bands run on average daily consumption, not monthly totals. A national family in a villa pays the lower rate up to 7,000 litres a day; an expatriate villa moves to the higher rate after 5,000 litres. Flats on both schedules switch at 700 litres a day. The 2025 rates repeat the 2024 schedule.
A social tier open to any nationality
Households holding a social card receive water free up to a daily allowance: 9,804 litres for nationals and 2,801 litres for expatriates. Above it they pay AED 2.09 or AED 7.84. Residential customers also cannot be disconnected for non-payment between 1 June and 30 September.
Who covers the gap
The government decides end-user tariffs and can set them below cost, funding the shortfall through subsidy. Control sits instead with the Department of Energy's price cap on the network companies: the department put the revenue limit for its second price control, RC2, at AED 50 billion for 2023 to 2026, a figure that also covers electricity and wastewater.
The next decision
RC2 ends on 31 December 2026, and its successor had not been issued as of 11 November 2026. The supply behind the bill is changing as well: reverse osmosis output rose 46% in 2023 while multi-stage flash output fell 19.3%, and the plants supplying EWEC's Abu Dhabi system, including two in Fujairah outside the emirate, produced 1,160 million cubic metres of desalinated water that year.
Where Abu Dhabi's water comes from, which plants serve the capital, who owns the networks and which projects are under way are set out in the profile. The full report, Abu Dhabi City Intelligence Profile, is available for USD 99. For a free overview, see Abu Dhabi City Snapshot.