DEWA Excellence: MD & CEO Reviews at 10th Dubai Forum for Government Best Practices

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), gave a session on ‘The Leading Government Entity’ for the 10th Dubai Forum for Government Best Practices 2017, which reviewed DEWA’s progress with excellence and its global achievements. The Forum is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

DGEP organised the Dubai Forum for Government Best Practices 2017 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, under the theme ‘An inspirational government shapes the future and achieves happiness.’ The DGEP is a part of the General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Dubai, and DEWA is participating as the main sponsor.

The session was attended by HE Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness in the UAE, Abdulla Mohammed Al Basti, Secretary General of the Executive Council of Dubai, HE Ahmed Buti Al Muhairbi, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Energy, Dr Ahmed Al Nuseirat, Coordinator General of the DGEP, and several senior government officials in Dubai.

Al Tayer began by congratulating HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. He also thanked their Highnesses the Rulers of the Emirates, the Crown Princes, and the citizens and residents of the UAE, on the UAE's achievement. The UAE, represented by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), ranked first globally for getting electricity, according to the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2018. The UAE achieved an exceptional mark of 99.92%, which contributed to improving the UAE’s ranking in the Global Competitiveness Report, from 26th place to 21st.

Al Tayer also thanked the DGEP for this opportunity, and for allowing DEWA to share its success story in achieving sustainable excellence within the forum.

“DEWA’s unprecedented achievement in getting electricity, was achieved through the vision and unlimited support of our leadership, which forms a road map for us and a guiding light in our work, ambitious initiatives and development projects. This supports the objectives of the UAE Centennial 2071, the UAE Vision 2021, as well as the Dubai Plan 2021, to secure a happy future and a better life for future generations, raise the country's status as the best country in the world, and always rank first in all areas. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai once said that, “Success is not a destination, but a journey. Each time you reach a summit on this journey, you must look ahead to the next one.””

“The journey to reach first place was not an easy one. However, through our dedicated and excellent team and their united tireless efforts, we managed to rank first globally, after being ranked fourth for four years running. This year, we made an unprecedented achievement, as the UAE has surpassed South Korea, and Germany. This was because we recently developed our operations by restructuring the team, creating creativity labs for brainstorming, making the steps shorter, reducing the number of days from 28 to 10, cancelling insurance, postponing the payment of the connection fees, speeding up civil works, and increasing reliability,” said Al Tayer.

“DEWA has received over 170 prestigious local and international awards in the last three years. These help us in our gap analysis and locating opportunities for improvement, as well as other development programmes and projects. One of DEWA’s most prominent awards was Leading Government Entity, at the 20th Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP) Awards, according to the fourth-generation government excellence system. DEWA won Best Entity in Innovation, and also received the largest number of awards in the 19th DGEP, where it won in the Distinguished Government Entity category. DEWA received the highest grade ever awarded to a government organisation in the DGEP. In the same year, DEWA won Gold in both the Dubai Human Development Award and the Dubai Quality Award, which both compete with the private sector. Since the launch of the DGEP Awards, DEWA has received over a third of the Distinguished Government Entity Awards. DEWA received this award 4 times out of the 10 times where the Award was presented. We continued our achievements when DEWA won the highest award in the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model, this year, becoming the first institution in the Middle East to receive the EFQM Award, with an excellent score 750-800. This proves the correct assessment of the DGEP and it confirms the sustainable excellence of DEWA. DEWA is the first institution outside of Europe to receive this international award as a first applicant, and now ranks in the Platinum category. This is the highest category of excellence, and DEWA is the first and only institution in this category in the energy sector,” added Al Tayer.

“In terms of performance indicators, we have achieved various global achievements. 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. DEWA has reduced 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%, compared to 15% in North America,” continued Al Tayer.

“DEWA adopts a flexible strategy that is quick and efficient in responding to strategic government changes and trends. Our strategy is based on four pillars, which include the triple-bottom line for sustainability, stakeholders, Internal processes and Learning and Growth. It is one of the key factors for success in strategic planning and management. We have key performance indicators, which are regularly reviewed and the management team is following up on projects within our strategy on a weekly basis. His Highness's announcement of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 was key to our objectives and strategic priorities so by 2050 75% of our energy is clean. One of its pillars is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This is the largest single-site solar park in the world, based on the IPP model, which will generate 5,000MW by 2030. We are building our new headquarters, Al-Shera’a, which will be the tallest, largest, and smartest public sector Zero Energy Building (ZEB) in the world. We have established strategic bases and clear directions for our stakeholders. We have established distinct technical and administrative work systems, and worked with our stakeholders to identify their needs and aspirations, and take decisions that are consistent with roles and responsibilities. At DEWA, we provide services that are available 24/7. We have simplified the procedures and provided smart and innovative services by adopting the latest technologies. We have eased their lives by saving them time, money, and effort through our Customer Happiness Centres, to make the lives of over 800,000 stakeholders happier. DEWA’s adoption rate of its smart services reached 80%, ahead of the deadline set by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, for 2018, and DEWA is aiming for 90% by the end of this year. DEWA achieved 85% in employee happiness. DEWA achieved 5-star ratings for all its centres from the British Standards Institute (BSI), achieving 98%, the highest rate achieved in the history of the BSI certification, and also scored 98% from the International Standard for Service (TISSE). DEWA also scored 95.2% for customer happiness, which is the highest score by Dubai Government organisation,” said Al Tayer.

“DEWA has pioneered in its business by diversifying its portfolio and sources of income to ensure financial sustainability. DEWA has contributed to establishing, and has shares in, institutions and companies that relate to its core business and will help achieve its strategic goals. DEWA has created pioneering business models through effective partnerships with the private sector, using the IPP model. DEWA’s agility and resilience has played a major role in its excellence and success. DEWA has aligned itself to the UAE’s and Dubai’s strategic directions. All this was translated into projects and initiatives, and implemented in a short time. DEWA works tirelessly to enhance infrastructure and its total production capacity, to reach 10,200 MW of electricity and 470 million imperial gallons (MIGD) of desalinated water per day. A further 4,000MW of energy production are being built as well. M-station, the largest power production and desalination plant in the UAE, was completed and now DEWA is working on its expansion of an extra 700MW for a future total capacity of 2,885MW by 2018.”

“DEWA launched its smart initiatives, such as Shams Dubai, Smart Applications through Smart Meters and Grids, and Green Charger. DEWA is currently implementing the international SAP Enterprise Resource Management system, where the first and second phase saved approximately AED69 million a year. DEWA has allocated AED 4.26 billion to support the infrastructure for electricity and water at Expo 2020, and is the official Sustainable Energy Partner,” added Al Tayer.

“DEWA adopted innovation within its vision, and added the Future and 10X in its strategy, to support innovation and business development, to suit the requirements of the next phase. We have introduced the latest innovative technologies that accompany the Fourth Industrial Revolution and rely on Artificial Intelligence (AI), robots, disruptive technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), and 3D-Printing. We are building a lab with 3-D printing technology and using this to also manufacture spare parts.”

“DEWA adopts a comprehensive framework for governance and we use the best international practices in risk management, and business continuity. We were the first government organisation in Dubai to launch a Cyber Defence Centre. DEWA has also launched many sustainability platforms, including the World Green Economy Summit (WGES), the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition, and hosting the Solar Decathlon Middle East (SDME) 2018-2020, in Dubai, for the first time in the Middle East. DEWA also contributed to support the efforts of WGES, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in 2016, with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),” said Al Tayer.

“These achievements contribute to promoting a happy life for stakeholders, and a bright future for generations to come. I concluded with the words of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who once said, “The race for excellence has no finish line,”” concluded Al Tayer.