DEWA Says All Services Now Available On Smart Devices

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced that it has transformed all its services into smart services, in line with the emirate’s smart city initiative.

Dubai’s smart city initiative aims to ensure that all government services such as those provided by DEWA will be accessible, quick and efficient through the use of hi-tech smart devices.

“DEWA initiated implementation of all plans and strategies necessary to transform its services to smart ones in 2009 and launched the first smart application in 2010,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“The application has exceeded expectations with over 577,000 downloads to date. From 26,000 downloads in 2010, the app was downloaded 82,000 times in 2011, a growth of 208.7 per cent compared to the base year.

“More than 124,000 downloads were recorded in 2012, an increase of 51.44 per cent compared to the previous year. In 2013, the app was downloaded over 206,000 times, a growth of 65.92 per cent, reflecting a consistent increase in using the app to access DEWA’s services.”

He added that DEWA’s customers conducted around 3.3 million transactions in 2013 through its website and smart app.

The electronic adoption rate of DEWA’s services stands at 62 per cent, the utility said in a statement.

“Through these services, we’re able to meet a large number of requests and transactions simultaneously without any delay. Customers can submit applications wherever they are at any time, without having to visit our offices,” said Al Tayer.

DEWA’s smart app serves its customers, consultants, suppliers, job seekers and other government organisations. It has also launched specialised services in its app for other government offices through which they can send in their feedback about any of DEWA’s facilities.

An updated version of DEWA’s smart application was launched on iOS7 for iPhone and iPad in October 2013 and on Android in November.

The UAE government is moving towards becoming a ‘smart’ and ‘mobile’ government, with plans to offer all services through smartphones within the next few years.

It recently launched a YouTube channel that details its official services and highlights the initiatives and awareness campaigns of ministries and federal departments.

Owing to its quick adoption of smart services, the UAE jumped from the 49th position in 2010 to 28th position in 2012 in UN’s e-Government Survey.