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49 seconds: Dubai breaks own world record of least power outage time
Dewa has been efficiently reducing lost customer time since more than a decade ago, bringing CML down from 6.88 minutes per year in 2012 to 0.82 minutes in 2025
- PUBLISHED: Tue 28 Apr 2026, 4:28 PM UPDATED: Tue 28 Apr 2026, 7:26 PM
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority announced it has set a new world record for the lowest electricity customer minutes lost at just 49 seconds (0.82 minutes) per year, beating its own record.
CML is the average duration that a customer has their power supply interrupted. Dewa previously set the world record at 0.94 minutes in 2024.
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Dewa’s Smart Grid, of which it invested Dh7 billion in, provides advanced features that enhance the efficiency of energy transmission and distribution, reduce outages, minimise losses, and improve electrical load management, Dewa CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer explained.
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One of the key programmes is the Automatic Smart Grid Restoration System, first of its kind in the region, he added. “The system enables remote, round-the-clock control, management and monitoring without human intervention, through innovative centralised systems that automatically locate and isolate faults and restore service, accelerating power restoration and increasing reliability.”
“We utilise the latest technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, particularly artificial intelligence, which we are fully integrating into Dewa’s strategies and operations. The smart grid is a fundamental pillar of Dewa’s strategy to deliver services according to the highest standards of availability, reliability and efficiency,” the director said.
Dewa has been efficiently reducing lost customer time since more than a decade ago, bringing CML down from 6.88 minutes in 2012 to 0.82 minutes in 2025 — which is significantly lower than the average of approximately 15 minutes recorded by leading utility companies in Europe.
In a similar move, the Dubai authority recently announced it reduced its processing time from four days to mere minutes after moving to using artificial intelligence. The new system now handles refunds of up to Dh 4,000, covering approximately 90 per cent of all requests.
The emirate announced earlier this week that 50 per cent of all government services in the country will run on AI agents to increase efficiency. This will make the UAE the first government in the world to have 50 per cent of its services running on agentic AI.
Hind Aldah is a business reporter based in Sharjah. In her spare time, you will find her playing classical guitar, painting amateur oil paintings, or crocheting the same old scarf that leads nowhere.