Utilities in Zagreb explained

Who sends which bill

The Zakon o najmu stanova (the Housing Lease Act) doesn't decide which bills the tenant pays. The lease must state the types of living costs you pay and how. The bills come from:

• Electricity: a supplier such as HEP Elektra, which provides the public service. The same bill covers the energy and the use of HEP ODS's grid.
• Gas: the public-service supplier on the Gradska plinara Zagreb network, Međimurje-plin d.o.o. (from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2027), or a market supplier such as Gradska plinara Zagreb – Opskrba.
• District heatingDistrict heating (centralno grijanje)Heating from a plant that supplies many buildings through a heat network. In Zagreb HEP Toplinarstvo sends the bill, and the cost is split among the building's flats.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: HEP Toplinarstvo, in buildings connected to the heating network.
• Water: Vodoopskrba i odvodnja d.o.o. (ViO).
• Waste collection: Zagrebački holding – Podružnica Čistoća.
• Reserve fund (pričuva)Reserve fund (pričuva)simplifiedMoney the co-owners pay each month to maintain the building's common parts and run it. The flat's owner owes it to the building, not the tenant.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: the building managerBuilding manager (upravitelj zgrade)simplifiedThe company or registered trader the co-owners choose to run the building. It allocates and collects the reserve fund and organises maintenance and emergency repairs.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 41., 49.–52., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, on behalf of the co-owners.
• HRT licence feeHRT licence fee (HRT pristojba)The monthly fee for public television and radio. A household with a radio or TV pays one fee, however many sets it has, on HRT's own bill.Source: HRT: Pristojba, checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: HRT, if the household has a radio or TV.
• Internet and TV: the provider you sign with.

How to move the electricity, gas, water and waste bills into your name, step by step, is in our guide to changing the utility account holder.

Electricity

An electricity bill has three parts: the energy, the grid charge (mrežarina) and a renewable-energy charge. A Government decree (NN 101/2026) sets the household energy price from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. Amounts excluding VAT:

• Energy, until 31 March 2027: €0.091324/kWh on the single-rate model (Plavi), or €0.097189/kWh at the higher rate and €0.047688/kWh at the lower rate on the two-rate model (Bijeli). There's also a supply charge of €0.982 a month.
• Grid (HEP ODS, from 1 January 2026): €0.052324/kWh for Plavi, or €0.065702/kWh at the higher and €0.028689/kWh at the lower rate for Bijeli, plus a metering-point charge of €1.983 a month.
• Renewables: €0.013239/kWh.

VAT of 13% is added to all of it. Added up, a kWh on Plavi costs €0.156887 before VAT, or about €0.18 with VAT, plus the two fixed monthly charges. The decree price covers use of up to 3,000 kWh per metering point in six months; above that, the energy costs 35% more.

HEP ODS reads the meter every six months. In between, HEP Elektra bills five monthly advances based on use in a comparable earlier period, and the settlement bill evens out the difference. Until 31 March 2027, another supplier may not charge more than the decree price either, even if your contract sets a higher one.

Gas

Gas is metered in m³ but billed in kWh, converted using the gas's calorific value. Gradska plinara Zagreb, which runs the network, reads meters twice a year. The tariff model depends on annual use: TM1 up to 5,000 kWh, TM2 from 5,001 to 25,000 kWh.

Public-service prices on the Gradska plinara Zagreb network apply from 1 October to 31 December 2026 (HERA decision, NN 101/2026). Amounts excluding VAT:

• TM1: €0.0587/kWh and a fixed charge of €1.33 a month.
• TM2: €0.0564/kWh and a fixed charge of €1.33 a month.
• In residential buildings, add €0.40 a month per metering point for testing the gas installation. The chimney sweep, the service and repairs of a gas boiler in a rental are in our gas boiler guide.

Until 31 March 2027 the state subsidises households on the Gradska plinara Zagreb network by €0.0068/kWh before VAT, so at the public-service TM1 price you pay €0.0519/kWh before VAT. VAT on gas is 5% until 31 March 2027, which makes about €0.0545/kWh. With a market supplier its own price list applies, with the same subsidy and 5% VAT.

District heating

In buildings connected to the heating network, HEP Toplinarstvo sends the bill. The building's billing meter is in its substation; heat cost allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary on radiators and heat meters in flats are only used to split the cost. Flat owners must install allocators or heat meters by 1 January 2027 (Heat Energy Market Act), and the cost is split as the co-owners decide:

• Until 31 August 2028 the current rulebook's cost-splitting articles apply (NN 99/14, 27/15, 124/15, Arts. 6–15): in a building with allocators, a flat without them pays its use multiplied by a correction factor of 2, unless the co-owners (or, in some cases, the heat buyer) decide otherwise. There's no extra charge.
• From 1 September 2028 the new rulebook applies (NN 140/2025; its start was moved by NN 84/2026): capacity is split by each flat's heat load or by heated area, and energy by area, allocators or heat meters. With allocators, the rulebook suggests a 20% share for common use.
• From then on, a flat without allocators in a building that has them pays its use multiplied by a correction factor, normally 3, plus €0.50 per m² of heated area a month. The rulebook also provides for a yearly inflation adjustment and doesn't say whether the amount includes VAT. More in the guide to heat cost allocators.

The heat price is made up of energy (€/kWh), capacity (€/kW a month) and monthly charges, with 5% VAT until 31 March 2027. HERA kept Zagreb's heat production tariffs at last season's level from 1 October 2026, but on 19 October 2026 we couldn't find new distribution tariffs (the last ones ran to 31 March 2026) or the Government's decision on this season's heat subsidy. So we give no total: ask the landlord for last winter's bills.

The heating season runs from 15 September at the earliest to 15 May at the latest, and the heat comes on when the distributor decides the weather calls for it (the rulebook in NN 131/2025, Art. 11); who decides in the building and whom to call about cold radiators is in our heating season guide.

Water

The water price has a variable part per m³ and a fixed monthly part. Since 1 March 2026, a household connected to the public sewer and the treatment plant pays €2.04 per m³. That covers supply, drainage and treatment with 13% VAT, plus state and development charges, which carry no VAT. Without a connection to the treatment plant the price is €1.79/m³, and without drainage €1.27/m³. For a household connected to the plant, the fixed part is €1.32 a month including VAT and is paid whatever you use.

In a building with one shared water meter, use may be billed by the number of household members. Where flats have internal meters, an authorised company reads them and splits the water by their readings.

Example: a flat with its own meter, connected to the treatment plant, uses 5 m³ of water a month (our assumption). The bill is 5 × €2.04 + €1.32 = €11.52 a month, including VAT, at prices from 1 March 2026.

Waste collection

Čistoća charges every household a compulsory minimum public service of €5.97 a month (€5.28 plus 13% VAT), under the price list in force since 15 January 2023. Mixed waste goes only in ZG bags, which you buy separately: a pack of 10 costs €2.64 (10 l), €5.31 (20 l) or €10.62 (40 l), including VAT.

The reserve fund and the communal fee

Under the Building Management and Maintenance Act, the co-owners pay the reserve fund (pričuva)Reserve fund (pričuva)simplifiedMoney the co-owners pay each month to maintain the building's common parts and run it. The flat's owner owes it to the building, not the tenant.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary for maintaining the building, monthly and in proportion to their shares. The Act sets a minimum of 0.54% a year of the benchmark construction priceBenchmark construction price (etalonska cijena građenja)simplifiedA building cost per m² that the Ministry publishes in the official gazette. The minimum reserve fund and some sums for protected tenants are based on it.Source: Podatak o etalonskoj cijeni građenja (NN 106/2025), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary per m² of the flat's weighted floor areaWeighted floor area (vrijednosna površina)simplifiedA flat's net floor area weighted by the usable value of its parts. A building's reserve fund and co-owners' majorities are counted by it or by registered shares.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 4., 28. i 29., checked 23 Oct 2026More in the glossary. The ministry in charge puts that at €0.36 per m² a month, using its benchmark price of €796.34/m² “for use in other regulations” (last published in NN 106/2025, from 25 July 2025). The co-owners can set more.

If the landlord wants you to pay it, the lease must say so. The communal fee (komunalna naknada)Communal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary is similar: the owner pays it to the City unless a written contract passes it to the occupant, and then remains jointly liable. It's calculated per m² by zone, type of use and a point value the City sets.

Who pays the reserve fund, the communal fee and repairs, and the legal minimum for your flat, are in our guide who pays what when renting.

The HRT licence fee, internet and TV

Each household with a radio or TV pays one HRT licence feeHRT licence fee (HRT pristojba)The monthly fee for public television and radio. A household with a radio or TV pays one fee, however many sets it has, on HRT's own bill.Source: HRT: Pristojba, checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, however many sets it has. The fee is €10.62 a month. HRT's supervisory board set that amount for 2025, and HRT's financial plan for 2026 assumes the same; we found no published decision for 2026 (checked 19 October 2026). HRT bills it directly.

Internet and TV are priced by the provider you choose. HAKOM's tariff cost estimator works out the monthly cost of internet and phone tariffs for your usage, and a HAKOMetar fixed-broadband speed test counts as evidence in a complaint about service quality.

What “utilities not included” means

When a listing says utilitiesUtilities (režije)Housing costs on top of rent: electricity, gas or heating, water, waste, the reserve fund, the HRT licence fee and internet. The lease decides which the tenant pays.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 5., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary aren't included, or “+ utilities”, you pay the bills on top of the rent. “Utilities included” means some or all of the costs are in the rent. Either way, the lease must say exactly which. Before you sign, ask:

1. 1Which bills will be in your name, and which will you repay to the landlord?
2. 2How is the flat heated, and what were last winter's bills?
3. 3Does the flat have its own water meter and heat cost allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary on the radiators?
4. 4Who pays the reserve fundReserve fund (pričuva)simplifiedMoney the co-owners pay each month to maintain the building's common parts and run it. The flat's owner owes it to the building, not the tenant.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary and the communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary? By law, the owner.
5. 5How will the meter readings be recorded when you move in and out?

For the rest of the lease, see our lease checklist; for the depositDeposit (polog)simplifiedMoney the tenant pays as security for unpaid rent, bills or damage, and gets back at the end of the lease. The lease sets the amount and when it's returned.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3. i 17., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary and agency feesAgency fee (agencijska provizija)simplifiedThe fee for an agency's brokerage. Only someone who has signed a written brokerage contract with the agency pays it, as a rule once the lease is signed.Source: Zakon o posredovanju u prometu nekretnina (NN 69/2026), čl. 23., 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, our guide to the cost of renting in Zagreb.

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