DEWA
DEWA is Dubai's state-controlled electricity and water utility; every home needs an active DEWA account in the name of the owner or the tenant.
What DEWA means for a buyer
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) supplies power and water to almost every home in Dubai. Each property has a DEWA premise number, and the account is held by whoever occupies it: the owner if it is empty or owner-occupied, the tenant if it is let.
An owner meets DEWA at two points. At handover of a new home you open an account using your title deed or Oqood details and pay a refundable security deposit and a connection fee; the deposit is higher for villas than for apartments. When you let the property, the tenant opens their own account using the Ejari number, and yours is closed with a final bill.
The DEWA bill also carries charges that are not for electricity or water. The main one is Dubai Municipality's housing fee: tenants pay 5% of their annual rent, spread across the monthly bills. Owner-occupiers pay a lower rate based on the property's assessed rental value. Sewerage charges appear on the bill too.
Cooling is often billed separately. In buildings on district cooling, a provider such as Empower invoices a chiller fee alongside DEWA, so do not assume the DEWA bill is the whole utility cost. Other emirates have their own utilities, so DEWA applies only to Dubai.
Related terms
Guides that use this term
Where DEWA comes up in practice, with the costs, rules and steps around it.
Questions about the buying process?
An adviser can explain how this applies to the property you're considering.
- Current price list and availability, direct from the developer
- No fee to you on off-plan purchases: the developer pays us
- One salaried adviser, not on commission, from first call to handover
