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Dubai Electricity and Water Authority expands artificial intelligence deployment across utility operations
Dubai's DEWA is scaling autonomous AI systems to become the world's first AI-native utility. This cut security deposit refund processing from four days to eight minutes.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) hosted its second Agentic AI Executive Retreat at Al Shera'a headquarters, gathering leadership and partners including SAP and McKinsey. The utility is scaling autonomous systems across its operations, pursuing a long-term goal to become the world's first AI-native utility and strengthen Dubai's global technology standing.
Strategic ai deployment
DEWA began its artificial intelligence initiatives in 2017, targeting an AI-driven model across generation, transmission, and distribution. "DEWA is deploying the latest Agentic AI technologies in line with its vision to strengthen Dubai's position as a global city of the future," said Managing Director and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer. He added that the utility's approach follows the UAE Government's Agentic AI framework to enable autonomous decision-making systems.
This focus on autonomous systems reflects a broader shift in AI for Executives & Strategy, where leadership prioritizes integrating technology across the entire value chain. DEWA has moved beyond early generative AI experiments to embed these tools directly into core workflows.
Operational metrics and tools
The authority was among the first government entities globally to adopt ChatGPT-based services for customer interactions. It later became the first to use Google's NotebookLM model for automated podcast generation from press content. In 2026, DEWA implemented a Collaborative Work Agent within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem to extend AI-enabled services across internal operations.
These deployments of AI Agents & Automation have produced measurable operational shifts. DEWA reduced its security deposit refund processing time from four days to eight minutes without human intervention. The utility also applies digital twin systems, smart substations for real-time monitoring, automated electrical restoration, and solar forecasting tools.
Customer-facing metrics show sustained adoption. The virtual assistant Rammas has handled more than 13 million queries since its 2017 launch up to May 2026. Furthermore, DEWA reported a 98.9 per cent score in the Dubai Government's real-time Happiness Index in 2025.
Why this matters for executives and strategy
Transitioning from isolated chatbot experiments to agentic, autonomous workflows requires tying technology investments to core operational metrics. DEWA's results demonstrate that measuring artificial intelligence impact in minutes saved and customer satisfaction scores, rather than treating it as a secondary IT project, drives actual utility-scale transformation.