Empower, one of the biggest district cooling companies in Dubai, has denied hiking charges for its customers after dramatically increasing revenues last year.
The utility instead blamed increased water and electricity costs, which it passed on to consumers, resulting in higher bills for a number of Dubai residents.
Empower's profits increased 25 per cent last year to Dh162 million on the back of a 40 per cent increase in revenues to Dh670m.
The increase in revenues was not mirrored by the 20 per cent increase in customers or the 12 per cent increase new buildings being served.
Empower's customers have become increasingly more vocal in the past year about higher prices and the utility's complex charging structure that does not reflect a consumer's rate of consumption.
Ahmed Bin Shafar, the chief executive of Empower, said an increase in consumer demand and a backlog of customers connecting to the district cooling network had increased revenues by such an large amount.
"We have maintained a demand cost of Dh750 and will keep this at a fixed rate," he said. "I think [we have] the best rate in the market."
He said the company had also maintained the rate it charged customers for consumption, which is 0.568 fils per hour.
Empower breaks its charges down into a consumption charge, a demand charge per quarter, a fuel charge and a charge for meter maintenance.
Last year, consumers called for one charge to solely reflect the rate of consumption.
Mr Bin Shafar said he would "happily" give customers this solution, but that the charge per hour would probably increase from 0.568 fils to about Dh1.2, so he could continue to pay back the costs of investing in the district cooling plants and infrastructure.
"I would increase the rate tomorrow. I would collect my cash quicker," he said.
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