The Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has installed more than two million electricity and water smart meters in Dubai.

This is part of the utility’s efforts to develop a digital infrastructure according to international standards. Smart meters increase efficiency and reduce consumption, as well as enable customers to monitor their consumption anytime and anywhere.

Dewa has also started operating a smart meters analysis and diagnosis centre, where smart meters are read and monitored remotely every 15 minutes.

“We work at Dewa to provide an advanced infrastructure for facility and services management through smart and connected systems that use Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, internet of things (IoT) and others,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, CEO of Dewa. “We have an integrated strategy for smart grids with investments up to AED7bn that will be completed in the short, medium and long-term until 2035. The strategy includes different programmes such as advanced metering infrastructure for electricity, advanced metering infrastructure for water, asset management and big data, among others.”

Dewa launched a smart applications through smart meters and grids initiative to support the Smart Dubai initiative to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world. In addition to their role in smart transformation, operational efficiency and reducing water losses, smart meters provide benefits to customers and help them monitor, manage and control their consumption proactively and digitally without the need to contact Dewa.

“This contributes to reducing consumption and sustainability of resources,” said Al Tayer.

Abdullah Obaidullah, executive vice president at Dewa, said Dewa’s state-of-the-art infrastructure for smart meters helped detect 503,161 water leakages, 16,103 defects and 7974 increase load cases in the past three years. This saved users a total of AED324m.

Obaidullah noted that the high water usage alert service, which is part of the Smart Living initiative, helps users detect leakage in water connections after the meter. The system sends instant notifications to the user if there is an unusual increase in consumption to check the internal connections and repair any leaks. This reduces waste as well as incurred costs for customers.

Rashid Bin Humaidan, executive vice president of Dewa, said smart meters were the backbone of the smart grid. They are designed according to the highest technical standards. The smart meter sends wireless signals to different receivers across Dubai.

Dewa has a secure and automated infrastructure to manage data from meters and embed them with its billing system. Automating meter readings helps users receive instant information on their consumption patterns and effectively manage them to conserve consumption and protect natural resources.

Smart meters help users benefit from Dewa’s Smart Living initiative. They help users monitor their consumption independently, simply by logging into their Dewa accounts on the web site or smart app, check their data dashboard to monitor consumption, know more about residential customer tariff slabs, get conservation tips, and develop their conservation plans. They also benefit from the My Sustainable Living programme, which has a positive impact on those who can compare their consumption with similar homes. They can also make use of Dewa Store offers to purchase energy and water-saving devices.