Dubai: Consumers in the northern emirates will have to pay an additional fee of five fils per kilowatt-hour as the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (Fewa) restructures the power and water tariff.
The increase in tariff by five fils is only applicable for government offices, expatriate residents and commercial establishments. For industrial units, the increase is limited to 4 fils per kilowatt hour. The new tariff is applicable in Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah as well as the central and eastern regions of Sharjah emirate.
Fewa also hiked the water tariff for Emirati residents by 0.5 fils per gallon.
According to Fewa, the cost of water per gallon is 3.5 fils but the authority had until now subsidised the bills for Emiratis by 70 per cent, charging only 1 fil per gallon. The new water tariff for Emiratis will be 1.5 fils per gallon, reducing the subsidy to 55 per cent.
The new tariff will come into effect from January 2015, exactly a year after the last revision, which saw a hike of up to 17 per cent.
Currently, expat residents are charged up to 38 fils per kilowatt-hour of power consumption depending on the slab and up to 4.6 fils per gallon of water.
“Our rates are one of the lowest and we charge much lower than the cost of water for Emiratis. The reduction in subsidy will send a message across to conserve the natural resources,” said Mohammad Saleh, Director General of Fewa, as he elaborated on the new structure.
Fewa is implementing a two-pronged strategy to reduce consumption of water and electricity and encourage a culture of conservation.
“We have managed to save consumption by 20 per cent since the beginning of this year. Our idea is to change the culture of consumption that we have in the UAE, which is one of the highest in the world. We are working with schools, households as well as with mosques and sports clubs on a rewards scheme that encourages conservation,” said Saleh.
In the UAE, the average individual consumption of electricity is 20-30 kWh, in contrast to seven-15 kWh internationally. The average individual consumption of water internationally is 170-300 litres a day, compared to an average of 550 litres per day in the UAE.
“We managed to save 520 million kWh of power and helped reduce carbon emissions significantly through the installation of more efficient equipment at households, schools and mosques free of cost,” said Saleh.
The new devices help reduce 30 to 50 per cent of water consumption.
He added that Emirati households in the northern emirates alone consume 14 billion gallons of water out of the total consumption of 32 billion gallons.
“We are trying hard to change culture of consumption, we currently have 25 per cent of our consumers – Emiratis households – consuming 44 per cent of water. That is why we reduced the subsidy,” said Saleh.
Apart from hiking the tariff, Fewa is also involving housewives and other community members in a reward scheme that will see prize money ranging from Dh30,000 to Dh75,000 given out annually for those who achieve the highest conservation figures.
The new tariff will affect more than 500,000 consumers in the northern emirates.
