No more 'shocks' in Dewa bills with 48-hr water leak alerts

Dubai - Previously it took 40 days before residents were notified of any leakages, leading to unusually high bills.

Dubai residents who may have water leakages in their homes that are racking up water bills will now be notified within 48 hours, thanks to the artificial intelligence (AI) in Dubai Electricity and Water Authority's (Dewa) system.
Speaking to Khaleej Times at the GITEX Technology Week, Matar Al Mehairi, the chief innovation officer at Dewa, said it previously took 40 days before residents were notified of any leakages, leading to unusually high bills.
Now, Dewa will be able to notify the customer much sooner, he said, adding that nearly 100 residents complain of leakages every month.
Dewa launched the second phase of its digital initiative, where it would implement a higher use of AI in its services.
"We have modified our notification to residents for any leakages. Before, it was taking up to 40 days to notify people of any leakage, especially in water. Now, we are notifying them within 48 hours. This will help us identify patterns and locate the leakage. The programme that we are launching uses AI. This will collect data from smart metres and help identify consumption patterns and any leakages."
"In our system, we have 800,000 customers, and we have been seeing almost 100 customers per month, complaining of these leakages. You can get notified of leakages from buildings, but, for villas, you won't be able to see the leakage every time," Al Mehairi said.
He also spoke about a new company under Dewa, called Moro, which has been built to help Dubai homes go smart, in coordination with some of the "big names" in the technology industry.
A concept where a home's electronic devices are connected in one cloud, smart homes have been gaining traction in the emirate in the past few years,
Even though the project hasn't been officially launched yet, he hopes the the idea would excite residents to get on board once it opens to all.
"Moro is part of the 10X initiative and digital Dewa. We want to be global, not just in Dubai. We use Moro as a data hub that produces services. For example, if you want a smart home, Moro can help you create that. Our intention is to turn all homes into smart homes, and we have the infrastructure for that," he said.
When asked if the services will be expensive, he said: "We are building a package - it's intelligently built. We think these services can cost around Dh35 to Dh50. The announcement will be made later on."
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com

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