Malta - Monthly Costs

I suggest that you read through the many informative posts on the forum. These questions have been answered before.

I didn't realise the forum was only for questions that have not been asked before?

I could not find the answers to my questions above.

If anyone could help to give me a rule of thumb that would be much appreciated.

Hello,
I can help with some of those!
For landline and fibre optic broadband we pay €20 per month with Go Plc.
Council tax: there is none! You pay tax when you buy a property and that's it!
We always use Avis for car rental but haven't tried long lease. We are shipping a Volvo over next year and the cost will be £800.
Helen x

Thank you, much appreciated.

As for Internet, there is GO and Melita. Check out their websites for prices - there are different offers, so you can decide what's best for you. The websites are pretty straightforward, I think.

Mobile phones: You have Vodafone, Melita and GO. Most people I know have a top-up plan. I recommend checking the websites of the respective providers for prices and offers.

No council tax, as Jackman said.
Utility bills are higher than in other countries, though (water is EXPENSIVE, even if you're on the correct tariff, and electricity is not cheap, either...) 

Can't help with car leasing, sorry. But there are one or two threads on the forum about the topic of cars...

bernie_iris_fabian_david wrote:

Utility bills are higher than in other countries, though (water is EXPENSIVE, even if you're on the correct tariff, and electricity is not cheap, either...)

I would disagree on utility costs, We have just had our bill and it covers water and electricity for 2 people in a large 3 bedroom house at a cost of €66 for a six week period - less than €600 pa. Even when we had a house with a pool, which uses more electricity, we only averaged €800 pa.

In the UK we averaged £250 a quarter for electricity and a further £90 per quarter for water and sewage! - £1360 pa

Add in the low cost of heating in Malta and it is far cheaper. We used £1000 of heating oil a year in the UK and use about €150 bottled gas here.

Ray

Water is very expensive in Malta - I believe 2nd or 3rd most expensive in Europe (per "unit"). Electricity is now much cheaper than it used to be (big price decrease a couple years ago) and is in line with most other EU countries.

All of this is public information and there are plenty of tables comparing costs between different countries... Malta is neither cheap nor expensive. It's about average.Electric is cheap, water is expensive, heating - depends.

mantasmo wrote:

Water is very expensive in Malta - I believe 2nd or 3rd most expensive in Europe (per "unit"). Electricity is now much cheaper than it used to be (big price decrease a couple years ago) and is in line with most other EU countries.

All of this is public information and there are plenty of tables comparing costs between different countries... Malta is neither cheap nor expensive. It's about average.Electric is cheap, water is expensive, heating - depends.

Again, I have to disagree, our water cost for the 6 week bill including service charge was €33 or €286 pa here compared with £360 pa. (approx €450 ) in the UK ( inc. sewerage charge). The cost per cubic meter is only high after your water allowance at the lower rate is exceeded when it jumps from €1.39 to around €5.00 but there is no extra charge for sewerage as in the UK.

Ray

Just had a look at the tariff for Anglia Water in the UK:-

                                           Fixed charge pa.      per Cu.M
Water supply (potable)     £48.00                   £1.3396 (€1.70)
Foul water drainage            £53.00                   £1.5655
Surface water drainage     £35.00    
Highway drainage             £32.00

Total                                       £168 (€213)

The fixed charge in Malta is €59 pa. and the cost per Cu.M is €1.39 for the first 33 Cu.M per person pa.

Ray

Of course it's cheaper than the UK. Practically anywhere is going to be cheaper than England. It's about average for EU as a whole though.

mantasmo wrote:

Of course it's cheaper than the UK. Practically anywhere is going to be cheaper than England. It's about average for EU as a whole though.

The original post was about costs in Malta and was posted by a member who lives in the UK, it was not about EU averages!
Two posts, by members who don't live in Malta, said that utility costs are higher and that is simply not correct!

Ray

I don't think anyone said that they're higher than in the UK.

I've lived in many different countries over the last eight or so years so it's easy for me to compare Malta to other places. In terms of utility costs it's about average for Europe (UK being expensive). In terms of general cost of living Malta is actually quite expensive overall. Especially if you don't live in Gozo and need to work/commute.

Anyways this is a discussion forum so who cares what others post as long as it's ~roughly~ accurate and on topic.

I also don't see a problem here - all contributors have given valuable information based on the countries where they live or have lived or compared to the whole of EU. The OP might be based in UK but IMO it's good to see where Malta is on average for the EU!

Water is more expensive here compared to Germany and Ireland. Electricity on the other hand is a lot cheaper (again for both countries). Combine both and it works out average

It's also a shame that for the price you pay for water the quality is so bad. I'm yearning for a shower with non-salty water, my hair has certainly seen better days! On the upside, my partner and I are saving a lot more water than in Ireland where it was free for many years (now a flat charge of €160/€260 per year).

F0xgl0ve wrote:

Two posts, by members who don't live in Malta, said that utility costs are higher and that is simply not correct!

I suppose you are referring to my post here, Ray.

True, I do not (yet) live in Malta full time, but we have been renting an apartment there since February and I know the costs for water and electricity. In my opinion, and compared to the costs in Austria (where I am from, originally), water is definitely expensive. However, lower costs for sewage, heating etc. do outweigh this, no doubt about that.

As for the water - you say that it only gets expensive after you've used more than a certain amount. This is true, but we are a family of four: two adults who have a shower every day, two young children who have a bath every day, we use the washing machine nearly every day, we flush the toilet a lot (yes, that's a lot of water, too...), etc... So in all, we use a lot of water. And I absolutely understand that in a country like Malta, where water is scarce, this is expensive... I never meant to complain about that, I just wanted to point out that it is not cheap.

By the way, though it may be true that this thread was started by someone from the UK the subject says "Malta - Monthly Costs", so I don't see why it should not be okay to draw references to other countries, i.e. the EU average.

earsRgood wrote:

I didn't realise the forum was only for questions that have not been asked before?

I could not find the answers to my questions above.

If anyone could help to give me a rule of thumb that would be much appreciated.

I'm with you earsRgood. I too thought that was a little rude. especially from someone who has never lived in Malta and is a supposed 'expert' in a different part of the world. Fortunately some of the more polite posters have been better accommodating.

I was wondering how much a new mazda 2 was in Malta. A friend told me not as much as a new mazda 2 in Germany but probably the same price as a new mazda 2 in Spain. Another friend called me to inform me about the cost of mazda 2's in Cyprus, Ireland and of course Italy. I was confused...what are you on about I asked. They told me that it wasn't important how much a mazda 2 was in Malta it was more important to know how much it was in comparison to other EU countries. Oh! That makes sense I said...I only wished that I had asked how much a mazda 2 was in Malta, Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland and Italy because apparently that was what I really wanted to know. Silly me.

The good thing is, that nowadays you can find (almost) everything online:
http://www.mazda.com.mt/models-overview/mazda-2
Some cars are even cheaper when bought new in Malta than an imported 1 or 2 year old car together with registration tax.

btw, we pay 300 Euro for a nice 2 bedroom apartment with balcony and own (half) roof, and on average 50 Euro for water and electricity (we use electric heaters in winter and a mobile a/c in summer).

I have a pre-paid Vodafone card, top up 10-20 Euro per month and use WiFi where available.
At home I have Melita Internet (without land line) which costs about 20-25 Euro per month (incl. Melita WiFi at many locations in Malta)

Just be aware if buying a car outside of malta you will have to pay the registration tax .. if you have owned for less than two years

................and some fell upon stony ground.

Even the Mazda 2's