Dubai’s DEWA Will Not Raise Electricity Rates In 2015, 2016 – CEO

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has no plans to increase electricity tariffs in the emirate this year, the managing director and CEO of the utility has confirmed.

Speaking to Arabic daily Al Royya, Saeed Al Tayer also confirmed that electricity rates would not be raised until the end of next year.

“DEWA lately succeeded in lowering the rates of producing one unit of power from 5.9 fils to 5.8 fils. And we expect the cost of producing electricity will further decrease in the near future,” he said.

“There is no tie-up between the decline in oil prices and the electricity generation, especially because Dubai is in long terms agreements with the suppliers and producers,” he added.

DEWA currently produces around 98 per cent of its electricity through gas, Al Tayer told reporters earlier this month.

The utility is now focusing on increasing power generation through renewable resources.

Last week, DEWA awarded a consortium led by Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power and Spanish engineering firm TSK the contract to build a solar power plant for the second phase of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar park.

The project, whose capacity was doubled to 200 MW, will produce enough electricity to power 30,000 homes every year, using photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to generate electricity.

Meanwhile, Al Tayer also confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that Dubai had revised its strategic plans for power generation from renewable sources to a minimum of 2.3 per cent by 2017 and 15 per cent by 2030.

The emirate had earlier aimed to generate one per cent of its power from renewables by 2020 and five per cent by 2030.