Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has set a new world record for the lowest electricity customer minutes lost (CML), reaching just 0.82 minutes – approximately 49 seconds – per year in 2025.
The announcement was made by Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, and marks a further improvement on DEWA’s own previous world record of 0.94 minutes, set in 2024 – a reduction of around 13 per cent.
“We utilise the latest technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, particularly artificial intelligence, which we are fully integrating into DEWA’s strategies and operations,” Al Tayer said in a statement.
Dubai breaks its own world record for electricity reliability with 0.82-minute CML
He described the smart grid as “a fundamental pillar of DEWA’s strategy to deliver services according to the highest standards of availability, reliability and efficiency,” adding that the milestone supports the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan and the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33), which seek to consolidate Dubai’s position among the top three cities in the world.
DEWA is implementing its Smart Grid with total investments of AED7 billion up to 2035. Al Tayer said the grid “provides advanced features that enhance the efficiency of energy transmission and distribution, reduce outages, minimise losses, improve electrical load management and enhance the happiness of customers and all stakeholders.”
A centrepiece of this infrastructure is the Automatic Smart Grid Restoration System – the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa.
The system enables remote, round-the-clock control, management and monitoring without human intervention. Through centralised systems, it automatically locates and isolates faults and restores service, reducing the time customers spend without power.
The scale of DEWA’s progress over the past decade is considerable. In 2012, customers in Dubai lost an average of 6.88 minutes of electricity per year. By 2025, that figure had fallen to 0.82 minutes.
By comparison, the average CML recorded by utility companies across the European Union stands at approximately 15 minutes per year, placing Dubai well ahead of some of the world’s most established electricity networks.
