DEWA

What relates Kafka to DEWA ?

Geetha B Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

What relates Kafka to DEWA ?

10 December 2016

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While the world is falling apart to be better rebuilt and we are hopefully moving to a new really more sustainable economic system which will unfortunately not come without some heartaches, my own personal woes continue thanks to DEWA amongst others.

 

You might have read about the beginning of the problem where I initially thought that there must be a leakage because the alternate possibility simply seemed so absurd that it did not cross my mind at the time. If you have not, you can go ahead and read it here  https://geethabalvannanathan.com/real-life-experiences/a-sign-of-the-rampant-hypocrisy-that-plagues-our-world-unsustainable-sustainability/

 

In reality, it seems it was the absurd situation which was in line with the reality of the matter.

The truth of the matter is that since early summer 2016 after an unexpected visit of a DEWA employee who questioned my helper about how come we had such a big garden with a limited consumption of water (to which she had answered that we had a boring well but he simply did not seem satisfied with the answer), a new meter was installed. Since that meter was installed, the June 2016 readings of my water meter plummeted from their usual readings of 3,000 – 6,000 imperial gallons to a sky rocketing 50,000 to 80,000 imperial gallons. Yes, you have read it well, slight more than ten times the initial amounts.

 

Having gone several times to complain at the main office after unsatisfactory results of online complaints, I kept getting the same result month after month with bills for water ranging between 50,000 IG and 80,000 IG something that is only possible if water is flowing out on the streets uncontrollably, which it is obviously not. The complaints render no useful conclusion but DEWA keeps warning me and reminding me to pay up or else they will simply cut the water and electricity supply – which they actually did once as I only paid half the bill (which in itself was overpaying what I should have paid in reality). All in all, DEWA has charged me in 5 months from June to October for around 240,000 Imperial gallons or over 1,000,000 (yes one million) liters of water while we use sparingly the water in our house and only for showering and toilets because we water the garden with a boring well and drink bottled water, not tap water.

 

The last employee dispatched after the last online complaint snoops around the property trying to spot some leakage which he is visibly hoping he can pounce upon in order to justify the ridiculous amount of gallons that are being billed to me by DEWA. He seems very disconsolate to see that there is no water leakage and his gaze is met by only dry desert sand, as dry now as my faith in such employee readings of the water meter. To conclude the matter, he addresses my helper and me with a resounding “This is Dubai. If you are not happy, go back to your country”. Well this is not what Dubai had got me used to. I have been living in this country for around 10 years now and this year is the first year that I notice people behaving in such a way. It seems like the “go home attitude” seems to be spreading all over the world as people seem to find it as the ultimate problem solver to all problems within their lands.

 

Upon taking a picture of my water meter and tweeting about it and getting various responses, I decide that perhaps the main DEWA office can help dissolve this misunderstanding by reading the meter as it cannot possibly be the case that I have consumed 326,181 Imperial gallons as the employees seem to be reading it (the picture relates to the month of November reading and if read by them in that way would mean that barely a month later after I was billed, I succeeded in consuming 80,000 Imperial gallons or 400,000 liters of water, lol. If it were not so dramatic because of the undue billing that is eating away at my bank account, it would be hilarious) but the DEWA main office employees say it is pointless to show them the photograph of the water meter because they do not know how to read a water meter (sic!). There is a small department in a far away office that reads the meter and DEWA simply takes that reading and puts it into the system so that your bill is generated. They practice no oversight over the readings but take them for granted.

 

Now where it gets really absurd is when, despite the ridiculously high reading you still pay half the bill while waiting for the complaint to reach some perhaps finally satisfactory conclusion after 5-6 months of pointless going back and forth and trying to find a solution, you are told that you better pay the full bill failing which your supply will simply be cut.

Kafka could not have done better in creating a more absurd situation….

 

A sign of the rampant hypocrisy that plagues our world: unsustainable sustainability

Geetha B Real-life experiences, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

A sign of the rampant hypocrisy that plagues our world: unsustainable sustainability

1 August 2016

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Last month, I get a DEWA bill which for water alone shows a consumption of over 45 thousand gallons resulting in a net water bill of circa 3,500 AED which is of course impossible given our very measured consumption. My initial thought is that they have mistaken the neighbouring villa for my meter as that one harbours 70 maids all squeezed in tight into the same kind of villa as the family of my landlord has two identical villas side by side in Um Suqeim.

 

I file a complaint with DEWA considering they profess to be green and saving water and all that jazz. The result of the complaint is that a guy comes checks the meter and goes back to DEWA happy to have done his job. My complaint had however clearly mentioned that it was impossible to have that level of water consumption because we are very careful with water.

 

Parallel to that, just in case, I make sure the landlord’s company is aware that there might be a problem as we also had a shortage of water once or twice. As is usual with local landlords, the Indian staff keep saying that somebody will come but nobody turns up at all so we keep trying to live with the issue of shortage thinking that DEWA will come back with a solution to the issue. Meanwhile we have of course looked absolutely everywhere but cannot identify a leakage to the extent of all those gallons lost.

 

The next month, I get a bill with 69,000 gallons for circa 3,800 AED for water alone!! I don’t know if you understand my shock as it is more than impossible. I complain again saying this is quite impossible and even at the peak of consumption when all my children were here (they are now off for summer holidays with my ex) and we also had guests, the maximum it went to was 1,400 AED or a consumption of less than 20,000 gallons so could they please check properly. I highlight that there is visibly a problem because so much consumption is not possible and clearly water is being lost somewhere. I don’t believe even the 70 maids next doors could be reaching that level of water consumption.

 

Pom popom, the DEWA guy lazily comes in again and checks the water meter and is all set to go. We tell him that it can’t be just that and can he come and have a look inside the premises. After all DEWA is professing to be GREEN and to be saving the environment. I’d think trying to prevent over 40,000 gallons from finding their way to a desert grave would be incentive enough for an entity that professes itself to be GREEN and so connected to saving the environment.

 

The DEWA person assigned to review the complaint matter onsite has a wayward look everywhere, shrugs this thing off and says it is not DEWA’s problem if water is lost (sic!) and it is for the landlord to try to find out what is the matter as it is inside the premises.

 

Ahem, perhaps you want to rephrase that, I think almost aloud. We all know how local landlords are. We’ve been trying to get the landlord to fix the shortage problem. Imagine them thrashing around the place to find a potential leakage of water which is nowhere really to be seen. We venture a feeble “Don’t you think DEWA should be enforcing on landlords to make sure their property is per norms when they are renting to expats like us?” and another feeble “we can’t force these local landlords to do anything” but he is not too concerned. He mumbles that if we are not happy then we can go back to our home country. He is right and I would LOVE to do just that except that I simply cannot do that for now for personal and financial reasons

 

As somewhat of a solution to the whole problem with divine intervention, the pipe actually bursts yesterday night and we are now able to find out where the problem actually lies. As I write, I am sitting here now waiting for the landlord’s company to finally come and repair the whole thing instead of going to work as my helper is on vacation for the whole month. While I have been paying off the small items like issues with the ACs and the toilet blockage etc, I can’t see how a landlord, even local, can expect to see me pay for his whole water pipe system. Then again as the saying goes there is enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed. Incidentally, perhaps that is why there are these poor 70 odd maids packed like sardines in the next door villa, which is quite appalling if you think of it. Add to this fact that I have not even received my tenancy agreement as it would seem the landlord is not too keen for me to register it with RERA although he made sure to cash the check.

 

Now I am left wondering who is supposed to pick up that tab of circa 7,300 AED for water alone. Water I have not even got to use because it just seeped back into this empty desert sand. I am afraid the very green DEWA is simply going to wash its hands off the whole issue like they could not care less that a consumption of circa 600 AED monthly jumps all of a sudden to over 3,000 AED month after month. I am afraid the landlord might also attempt to wash his hands off the whole story and try to leave me with the damages to pay. Of course there are no proper consumer protection laws that would allow one to get appropriate compensation.

 

If you think of it, the fact that DEWA could even dismiss the discrepancy in the consumption is the clear proof of that two-tier hypocrisy system. Probably DEWA was under the impression that the landlord must have resorted to renting this villa out as well to another company housing another 70 odd maids within its premises like what he did next doors. Funnily enough this is a practice that is officially not allowed but it is becoming more rampant now in Jumeira and Um Suqeim while it was contained only to Jaffiliya and Bur Dubai before.

 

While I understand the need for two or three families to share a villa given the insane prices we have to pay in Dubai for housing as compared to our home location, the cramping of so many individuals inside the old houses because it is a cheaper option than a labour camp is simply appalling. It would seem that the old houses now are a better option to most companies housing their slightly more senior staff as the newer labour camps with proper arrangements that the government has been supporting are simply considered as too costly by these companies.

 

People only target the government for the problem of the labour camps but suffice to see that it is a matter of greed which goes back to the companies themselves. Indeed,  the new enhanced labour camps and other arrangements for mid-level personnel are available and they simply stay unoccupied as most companies are not willing to pay more to house their personnel under humane and acceptable conditions.

 

It is sad but very much a fact of the human condition that those who can change things fail to recognize that it is only in the establishment of a system that is palatable, steeped in truth and fair to everyone that you can build real sustainability.

Unsustainable – Muse

Second Law, Isolated System – Muse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXPoJAyeF8k