Hi,

I'm curious to know how much normal electricity and water charges cost for one person's usage per month? (someone told me that these charges are not included in the charges nor monthly rent)
Does the flats on immostreet.ch or homegate.ch include these charges in general?
What does "extra cost" include?

I just want to know if it would be cheaper to find a roommate/flat share or just to get a studio comparing all the charges.

Those are called Nebenkosten/Frais accessoir and are usually calculated in your rent (it is always mentioned in any advertisement, check closely).

This is only a rough calculation on the previous usage and you will most likely get an additional invoice after the end of the year to reflect the actual cost. Sometimes, if the oilprice (heating) was low, you will get a refund at the end of the year.

Be aware, too, that Nebenkosten don't cover all of your additional expenses -- for example, I have to pay for my electricity (lighting, power, cooking), for which the utility bills me directly, on top of my Nebenkosten. In my case, heating is included in the Nebenkosten.

Confusing.

Agree, but is that not because you have the choice of the provider and their services? You can buy the so called green power instead of the standard for example. Not so much with the heating, as it is handled through the agency/landlord. It should usually be listed what is included. For example, my cable tv/radio is included already.

When you rent a flat, you pay:
- the monthly rent
- charges (heating)
- additional bills not connected to your rent and not charged by your landlord

electricity
phone
tv
etc.

Hope this helps!

Heating is included in your rent - but towards the end of the following year you'll get another bill which is for the extra heating costs not covered by the nebekosten (the feel included in your rent for heating, etc.). I kept the radiators on very, very low all winter and my bill I just received was nearly 400 CHF.

Do you live in an apartment block? I know in ours that the heating cost is for the block and not the individual apartments. At the end of the year any extra that needs to be paid is simply equally divided between the tenants. If somebody the block is heating to tropical levels and we're running the heating low we'll end up contributing to somebody else's heating.

Same here, heating is divided among the entire block. Annoying, as my apartment is heated all day during the winter. On the other hand, it doesn't seem all that expensive compared to what I used to pay. Maybe it's more efficient?

Also included in nebenkosten (For me)
Water
Building + Facilites Maintenance
Shared area cleaning.

Only thing not included is electricity.

In older buildings, they are often unable to measure the heating individually so they just use the square metres and bill based on that.

I'm in an apartment building, yes, but it seems they are able to get accurate-ish usage figures. They included a separate sheet which broke it down by radiator usage. There are little meters with a digital display on all of the radiators in the apartment.

In looking at the several pages of the bill, the extra charge may not have only just been for my heating usage, but other costs which went above what we normally pay each month.

If life was fair it's very unlikely the human race would have survived; we would have all died of boredom a long time ago !

Do you mean an extra 400 CHF ??

I can't speak for Shell, but my neighbours tell me that their annual Nebenkosten extras (yep, over and above the amount we all pay each month) is between CHF 400 and 800! (I haven't been here a full year yet so have yet to find out what I'm up for.)

I have no idea why the landlord doesn't just increase the monthly Nebenkosten amount by CHF 40 or so to avoid this unwelcome surprise.

Thanks everyone,
im new to this forum so i thought they email me if someone replies so i thought no one replied on this...

anyways, i know what to look for now.
i got some ideas now,

ps. does anybody have place to rent out from october in lausanne?

This is an option under "My Settings>Edit Options>Default Thread Subscription Mode with the choice of no notification, instantly, daily, weekly..."

However, as you only have the two posts, it might be that it doesn't function yet.

Sorry about the flat in Lausanne - I don't know of a place to rent. Try all the Seeking Housing Sites given on the other Threads.

This is one of the peculiar things about Switz...the heating is 'handled' through the agency/landlord.

Hi All,

Thought I would ressurect this thread instead of starting a new one (all in the name of efficiencies....)

So if you have to pay for electricity, TV, telephone on top of what isn't included inyour monthly payments to your landlord... how much would you budget for in a 3 bedroom apartment in Basel?

Cheers.

Also interested in responses to the last posters query.

Anyone or even him from personal experience?

I'd suggest looking at homegate.ch to get an idea. It all really depends on which area of Basel you live in.

Thanks - have checked that, it is clear about the additional expenses on there. However the poster above 2 was referring to additional (additional) expenses on top of this. Any estimates?