Dubai: Residents who paid bills using the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (Dewa) smart services in the second quarter of the year saved more than 8,000 tonnes in carbon emissions.
A total of 2,492,890 smart transactions such as bill payments, consumption comparison and locating specific Dewa services pushed the smart services adoption rate to 68 per cent and saved 8,521 tonnes in carbon emissions, which is equivalent to planting of 42,607 trees.
“Dewa’s vision is inspired by the directives of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to reduce the number of visitors to government departments by 80 per cent by 2018. Dewa’s smart services play an important part in achieving this goal and also contributes to the Smart Dubai initiative, which was launched by His Highness to transform Dubai into the smartest and happiest city in the world,” Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dewa, said.
Al Tayer said the initiative enables the management of the city’s utilities and services using smart networked systems.
“Dewa completed its smart transformation less than a year after the Smart Dubai Strategic Plan was launched,” Al Tayer said.
Smart apps give Dewa customers access to fast, easy-to-use, integrated services that are available around the clock.
“Customers are able to activate, or deactivate electricity and water services at the click of a button on Dewa’s smart app. This reflects Dewa’s commitment to use technology to make people happier by increasing the efficiency of its services, and advancing Dubai’s global reputation,” Al Tayer said.
Dewa’s smart app was installed and updated 781,574 times in 2015, and 335,934 times in 2016. The adoption rate of available services via Dewa’s website stood at 59.17 per cent in 2015, and reached 60.67 per cent in the second quarter.
