Dubai’s energy demand up 6.3% in the first half of 2022 on economic recovery

Dewa's capacity reaches 14,117MW of electricity and 490 million imperial gallons of desalinated water per day

Dewa currently provides services to more than 3.5 million Dubai residents. Bloomberg

Energy demand in Dubai increased 6.3 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2022 driven by sustained economic recovery in the emirate, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) said.

Demand for energy in the first six months reached 23,096 gigawatt hours compared with 21,729 gigawatt hours during the same period last year.

Dewa's capacity reached 14,117 megawatts of electricity and 490 million imperial gallons of desalinated water per day, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We continue to raise the production capacity of electricity and water according to the highest standards of availability, reliability, efficiency and quality,” said Saeed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive of Dewa.

Dubai's economy has recovered strongly from the pandemic-induced slowdown, with business activity in its non-oil private sector improving at its quickest pace in three years last month, as new orders rose sharply despite inflationary pressures.

The headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global Dubai Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 56.1 in June from 55.7 in May, to its highest reading since June 2019.

Dewa, the first government entity to list on the Dubai Financial Market, operates as a vertically integrated multi-utility, with business activities including electricity generation, transmission and distribution, water desalination and district cooling.

The utility, which listed shares in April in the largest public float in the Middle East and Europe since Saudi Aramco went public in 2019, raised Dh22.41 billion ($6.1bn) from its initial public offering.

Dewa currently provides services to more than 3.5 million Dubai residents and the emirate’s active daytime population of more than 4.7 million.

These numbers are expected to grow to 5.8 million and 7.8 million, respectively, by 2040, it said.

The utility is also focused on implementing Dubai’s Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and Dubai’s Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, as part of which the emirate aims to ensure 100 per cent of energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.

Dewa reported a 19 per cent jump in its first-quarter net profit as revenue rose on increased power consumption in the emirate.

Net profit for the three-month period to the end of March climbed to Dh691 million. Electricity revenue rose 17.5 per cent, water revenue increased 20.2 per cent and district cooling revenue climbed 17.6 per cent in the first quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier.