Dubai’s electricity consumption jumped by 9.8% to a record 50.2TWh for 2021, state firm Dewa announced on 24 January. This is the largest annual increase in MEES records dating back to 2008 and came as Dubai and the wider UAE sought to accelerate the re-opening of the economy after the initial Covid-shock.

The annual increase is in line with earlier comments by DEWA CEO Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer, who in June said that electricity demand was up 10% year-on-year for the first five months of 2021 (MEES, 18 June 2021). (CONTINUED - 217 WORDS)