Client: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)
Project: My Sustainable Living Programme
Reach: 2.7 million residents
The challenge
Dubai set ambitious targets under its Demand Side Management Strategy 2030 and Clean Energy Strategy 2050: assist consumers to significantly reduce electricity and water consumption by 30% and make the city a global hub for clean energy and green growth. To achieve this, Dubai’s Electricity and Water utility needed an innovative way to help households adopt more efficient, sustainable behaviours at scale.
The solution
In 2016, DEWA partnered with Advizzo to design and deliver the first customer engagement programme of its kind in the Middle East, with the aim of transforming how residents understand and manage their energy and water use.
Launched in 2018 as ‘My Sustainable Living’, the programme uses Advizzo’s behavioural science and data-driven engagement platform to:
- Give every household personalised insights into their energy and water consumption without the need to contact DEWA directly
- Provide regular, tailored recommendations on how to save water and energy
- Provide each home with benchmarks usage stats against similar households to encourage behaviour change
- Deliver clear, monthly interactive reports and conservation tips via DEWA’s website and smart app
What began as a 150,000-household pilot quickly proved its impact and, by 2019, was rolled out to the entire population of Dubai, circa 2.7 million residents.
The results
The programme is delivering demonstrable results for households, DEWA and Dubai’s wider sustainability goals:
- Savings of up to 1.2% per year across electricity and water use
- 2.7 million people empowered to master their energy and water consumption
- ROI of up to €8 for every €1 invested
By 2030, the programme is projected to deliver:
974 million imperial gallons of water saved (≈ 4.43 billion litres)
- Equivalent to around 126 million four-minute showers
- Enough to meet the daily water needs of 15–17 million people
- Or to supply a city the size of Dubai for three weeks
138 million kWh of electricity saved
- Equivalent to 2.5 million full charges of a BYD electric vehicle
- That’s 1 billion kilometres of EV driving – enough to circle the Earth 25,000 times
- Or the annual electricity use of 40,000 households
The impact
Our solution goes beyond data – it creates behaviour change at scale. By helping people understand their consumption, compare with peers and take simple steps to change their behaviour and reduce consumption, the programme reduces bills for households while supporting Dubai’s larger conservation and carbon reduction targets.
Client testimonial: “As part of DEWA’s efforts to become a globally leading sustainable and innovative corporation, we have adopted an integrated strategy to raise awareness on the importance of rationalising consumption. Advizzo’s customer engagement initiative has been pivotal to our efforts, and the results to date demonstrate that we are on track to achieve our conservation targets.” Mohammed Abdulkareem AlShamsi, Chief Officer, Climate Change and Sustainability, DEWA