Hi, I live in district 7 and the whole area is now on DEWA. We have a large corner plot with garden, our bills were 2000ish over the summer (including having the aircon on 24/7) and this months bill is 590 (aircon on sometimes at night).
We have had a few teething problems with our place, but for us the space you get both inside and outside is well worth the money and a bit of hassle. We used to live in a brand new emaar development in downtown which was painfully expensive, and we still had problems with appliances, etc, i think it is just part and parcel of renting.
Hope that helps!