Dewa’s 2022 profit rises 22% on higher power and water demand

By Pramod Kumar

February 9, 2023, 6:14 AM

Dewa was listed as a public company on the Dubai Financial Market in April 2022

Dubai utility provider Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) reported a net profit of AED8 billion ($2.18 billion) in 2022, up 22 percent year-on-year, due to higher power and water demand.

Consolidated revenue increased 15 percent year-on-year to AED27.35 billion in 2022, the UAE state-owned WAM news agency reported.

Net profit and revenue for the fourth quarter of 2022 stood at AED1.5 billion and AED6.7 billion, respectively.

Total standalone net profit rose to AED11.1 billion last year, including AED4.4 billion of other income. The key drivers of this additional income include an AED2.3 billion dividend received from district cooling company Empower and AED1.67 billion of profit from the sale of Empower shares.

On the other hand, demand for power reached 53.2 TWh in 2022, 5.56 percent higher year-on-year. Demand for water reached 136.9 billion imperial gallons compared to 128.6 billion imperial gallons, an increase of 6.45 percent year-on-year.

By the end of 2022, Dewa served 1,157,501 customers, an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-year.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, the utility provider generated 12.4 TWh, representing a 6.05 percent increase from the same period of 2021.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa, said the company intends to pay AED9.9 billion in dividends to its shareholders, compared to the proposed AED6.2 billion for 2022.

In April 2022, Dewa was listed as a public company on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the largest utility IPO globally since 2008.

Further, Empower was listed on the DFM in November 2022. Dewa currently owns 56 percent of Empower.

The company commissioned two 400 kV substations, 15 132 kV substations and 1,113 11-6.6 kV substations in 2022. It installed an additional 1,100 megawatt (MW) of generation capacity, representing an 8.2 percent increase year-on-year.

Of the 1,100 MW, 600 MW was gas fired and 500 MW was generated from solar. The company’s current installed generation capacity stands at 14.5 GW, with 2 GW representing renewable energy.

The company’s current installed desalinated water production capacity was unchanged at 490 MIGD.