Dubai's Residential Sector Constitutes 80 per cent of Water and 70 per cent of Electricity Consumer Base in Dubai
DEWA announces Best Consumer Award for the residential sector, and practical tips as part of a larger awareness program for conserving electricity and water
As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce the consumption of electricity and water in Dubai, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is conducting a conservation program targeting the residential sector which constitutes 80 per cent of water and 70 per cent of electricity consumer base, as per 2007 figures.
The highlight of the program is the Best Consumer Award, an incentive award, which will compare current consumption of the consumer to the previous year’s consumption. Entries to the award can be submitted before August 31, 2008. Winners meeting the best conservation criteria will be felicitated by DEWA.
The award is part of a larger program which includes practical tips to all consumers in government, commercial, industrial and residential sectors to achieve controlled consumption of the two vital resources.
Eng. Amal Koshak, Manager of Investors Services at DEWA's Customer Relations Department, said: "With the continuous increase of electricity and water consumption in all sectors, especially the residential sector which constituted 80 per cent of water subscribers and 70 per cent of electricity subscribers in Dubai in 2007, there is an urgent need to highlight the ideal ways of rationalizing consumption. The Best Consumer Award is designed to motivate consumers to reduce consumption and enhance the rationalization of natural resources.”
DEWA's statistics show that the residential sector consumed 60 per cent of water and 30 per cent of power supplied by DEWA in 2007.
The Best Consumer Award will give away prizes to 13 consumers, totally valued at AED 22,000. To participate in the contest, contestants must fill in a special form available at any DEWA office, or can be downloaded from www.dewa.gov.ae, giving consumer name, address and DEWA subscription number. A DEWA team will track the consumption of household subscribers, and compare it to previous year’s consumption, to decide the winners.
The first winner will receive AED 5,000, the second AED 4,000, and the third AED 3,000. Ten other consumers will receive AED 1,000 each.
"The highest consumption of electricity and water takes place in summer time in the residential sector. We are confident this contest will spread wider the awareness of rationalization of consumption, thus helping protect the environment as well as achieve substantial personal savings," Koshak added.
Residential consumers can follow different methods to reduce electricity and water consumption. Water pipes should be checked for leakage. Waste should not be thrown down the toilet because it needs more flushing. Watering of garden plants should be done in the morning or evening. Bathing time should be reduced, and water should not be allowed to flow while shaving or washing face or brushing teeth.
As for electricity, air conditioning should be kept at 24 or 25 degrees and raise it up more when stepping out the house. Energy-saving fluorescent lamps should be used instead of normal lamps. Avoid using high energy consuming appliances like washing machines and dryers at noon which is the peak time, and switch off the electric devices when not use. Don’t put the appliances on stand-by mode because they still consume electricity.
Consumers in the residential sector are also advised to shut off their electronic equipment completely, and not to leave it on the “stand-by” mode, because these equipment will continue to consume electricity while on “stand-by”.
The consumption of electricity in Dubai rose to 24,756 Gigawatt Hour in 2007, compared to 21,475 Gigawatt Hour in 2006. Water consumption reached 72,588 million gallons in 2007, compared to 64,961 million Gallons during 2006. In 2007, the residential sector consumed 7,545 Gigawatt Hour of electricity and 43,289 million gallons of water.
