Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has in place an accurate system for risk management and resilience. It works on increasing its resilience and corporate agility by forecasting risks and preparing for rapid changes. This ensures business continuity according to the highest standards of availability, accountability, and efficiency.
HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA said that DEWA, as a globally leading sustainable innovation corporation, is committed to developing its capacity for proactive risk management to increase its resilience and capability to grow and prosper in different circumstances. DEWA works in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to propel Dubai into the future and place it 10 years ahead of other cities through government innovation.
DEWA is committed to making Dubai the city of the future by redefining the future of utilities around the world and supporting innovation as a key pillar to improve. This enhances DEWA’s competitiveness and keeps pace with the Fourth Industrial Revolution by adopting disruptive technologies. These include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), 3D printing, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and others.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai’s electricity and water network proved that it is strong and flexible enough to respond and adapt to different emergencies to keep pace with rapid changes. During this period, DEWA activated its emergency protocols, which have been tested many times to ensure business continuity, so that Dubai continues to have electricity and water.
DEWA has emergency response teams round the clock, one team specialises in high-voltage (HV) projects, and another specialises in low-voltage (LV) projects, to meet the needs of all its stakeholders. From 1 January to 30 September 2020, HV emergency teams responded to 931 cases while LV emergency teams responded to 25,652 cases.
DEWA’s proactive measures since 2009 have significantly reduced emergencies. DEWA addressed the reasons behind power outages due to overloads, replacing T-joints by erecting Mini Distribution Pillars (MDP). DEWA also launched several initiatives and innovative services such as the Smart Response for electricity and water technical notifications.
The service includes several features, such as self-diagnosis for technical interruptions at homes and reducing the steps of handling notifications and follow-up on them, through the smart app and website. This makes for a better experience for customers and improves service efficiency.
DEWA started in 2017 to apply a work plan that include a number of procedures such as providing mobile generators in all key areas to ensure availability in record time. It also follows-up with developers to ensure they install back-up generators at all new projects, and develops the necessary guidelines.
DEWA also works with existing key buildings and facilities including airports, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, government buildings, and tourist facilities to ensure they have adequate backup generators. The plan includes regular maintenance to ensure the functionality of backup generators when needed, effectively and at the right time while taking into consideration safety measures.
DEWA launched the PAS 60518:2020 - Enterprise Risk & Resilience Management standard for the utility sector in collaboration with the British Standards Institute (BSI). The new standard is the first of its kind in the world and reflects an important evolution in risk and resilience management. It also adds an important value to DEWA’s efforts in promoting risk management, business continuity and dealing with emergencies professionally and competently to reach the highest levels of excellence and quality. This serves the public and makes them happy.
The awareness campaigns launched by DEWA throughout the year helps more and more people understand about how they can benefit from DEWA’s initiatives and services. Examples of these include the Smart Living initiative, and the High Water Usage Alert, which enables daily monitoring of consumption and helps customers fix interruptions and leakages as soon as they happen.
DEWA actively encourages customers to benefit from all its services available on the website and smart app. This helps to providing value added services that save both time and effort.
News Source: https://mediaoffice.ae/en/news/2020/December/22-12/DEWAs-proactive-risk-management-increases
