Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) was formed on 1 January, 1992, by a decree issued by the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum to merge Dubai Electricity Company and Dubai Water Department, which had been operating independently before then. Both organisations were established by the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum in 1959. Dubai Government fully supported the Electricity Company and the Water Department to provide Dubai’s citizens and residents with a continuous and reliable supply of electricity and water. Since then, DEWA has made considerable achievements, to be ranked as one of the best utilities in the world. DEWA provides services today to more than 780,000 customers with a happiness rate that reached 95% in 2016.
DEWA has achieved competitive results, surpassing leading European and American companies by reducing losses in power transmission and distribution networks to 3.3%, compared to 6-7% in Europe and the USA. Water network losses decreased to 8.0 %, compared to 15% in North America, achieving global results in reducing water losses. DEWA’s results are among the best internationally for customer minutes lost per year. DEWA’s figures reached 3.28  minutes, compared to 15 minutes recorded by leading utilities in the European Union. The UAE, represented by DEWA, has been ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa and fourth globally for the fourth consecutive year for getting electricity as per the World Bank’s Doing Business 2017 report.