After smart services, Dewa to go paperless

All Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) services are online now, providing quick service to consumers and reducing the emirate’s carbon footprint considerably.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer announcing the complete transfer of Dewa services to ‘smart services’ at a Press conference on Sunday. — Supplied photo

At a function held on Sunday to announce the complete transformation of Dewa services to “smart services”, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dewa, said over 150 services and features are now available through the authority’s app.

“Customers conducted 3.3 million transactions in 2013 through Dewa’s website and smart app,” Al Tayer said. “This helped eliminate the emission of 11,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide that could have resulted from customers travelling to and from Dewa offices. This equates to planting 56,331 trees in an area equivalent to 106 football fields.”

He said the fast and secure e-services are helping consumers in Dubai save time and money, a factor that has played a big role in helping Dewa achieve a 94.3 per cent customer satisfaction rate, a record high on a global level.

For example, Dubai residents can now get power and water connection the same day they relocate to another home in the emirate. Previously, they had to visit a Dewa office with the documents required and make payments. Now all these services can be done online and connections at the new premises can be activated the same day.

Speaking to Khaleej Times after the function, Dewa’s vice-president for customer services Abdullah Al Hajri said very soon, there will be another change with all paper work eliminated.

“The only thing we will require will be a copy of your Emirates ID,” he said. “We will have internal communication and cooperation with other government entities whereby we share information. And we will be asking only for the customers’ Emirates ID to retrieve necessary information from the departments concerned,” said Al Hajri.

According to him, 190,000 customers have already opted for Dewa’s “green bills” delivered via email. With a 62 per cent electronic adoption rate, over 60 per cent of Dewa transactions are now taking place outside its offices.

Al Tayer said Dewa is the only government department that has enabled its managers to stay connected with their offices even when they are out of the country so that they could take decisions and give approvals promptly.

Khawla Al Mehairi, vice-president of marketing and corporate communications, said over 100 public awareness campaigns were conducted in 2013 to send home the message of conservation and sustainability. Dewa’s app, available on almost all platforms, can be downloaded on all smart devices.

sajila@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE