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The first was a press release from Moody's Investors Service upgrading the credit rating of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa). Then a text arrived from Dewa telling me my bill for the month was Dh3,800 (US$1,034). My Hobnob biscuit was lost to the depths of my mug from the shock of it.
Moody's upgraded the utility because they said it was making progress in tackling some Dh4.4 billion in debts due by August. I imagine they've been making very good progress indeed based on what they've had out of my pocket in the past two months of the summer - almost Dh6,000 to be precise.
I am not among the entities Moody's covers, but if I were, they would have probably downgraded me at the same time they upgraded Dewa. The press release would say Cronin is put on "negative credit watch" based on mounting water and electricity-related liabilities that are unsustainable without a sharp increase in earnings or an immediate programme of asset disposals.
The main problem I had with the bill, aside from not having enough money to pay it, was that there was no evidence of profligate power usage to explain why it had more than trebled in a year.
I checked the bank statements to see if my pregnant wife had bought an aluminium smelter she'd not told me about; you know, the nesting instinct. But I couldn't see anything. HSBC would have probably sent me a text if she had.
When I enquired about the bill in the arctic-cold Dewa office, I was told I should be more energy conscious. "That's a bit rich," I thought. "You could keep penguins in here."
Surely people who live in heavily refrigerated glass-houses shouldn't throw stones.
The real genius bit came next with the offer to have my meter checked - at a cost of Dh30. Of course, it was found to be working perfectly. So then I owed Dh3,830. I bet Moody's hadn't factored in this extra windfall in its improved outlook.
I didn't much like the suggestion that I had some kind of yeti-sized carbon footprint.
Aside from the aircon, TV and white goods, our main electrical extravagance is the boy's Thomas and Friends train set.
It wasn't easy telling a three-year-old one of his engines would have to go. Seeing his little bottom lip quiver as he was forced to choose between Percy and James was like watching that scene in Sophie's Choice all over again - but with miniature locomotives.
Dewa has had to pay dearly for the billions of dollars it has borrowed in recent years, paying interest rates as high as 8.5 per cent to tempt investors to buy its debt offerings. Now its customers are also having to pay dearly as those debts are repaid.
While the utility's credit profile improves, that of the wider economy is starting to get distinctly clammy. The rising cost of power in Dubai over the summer has been so sharp and severe it is bound to create stresses elsewhere in the emirate. Aside from the obvious inflationary effect, it will also hurt wider consumer spending. It is, of course, only right that consumers pay for the real cost of water and energy - so the gradual removal of subsidies should be encouraged. But it shouldn't happen overnight - even if it does produce a great end-of-term scorecard with straight "AAA"s from the ratings agencies.
Never before has the onset of the winter had such a beneficial financial effect on Dewa's customers. These days the villa feels a bit like the Tropical House in London's Kew Gardens. We're thinking of growing bananas in the porch, which we could then sell to pay for the lights. With the banana proceeds and whatever we get from the electric toothbrushes on Dubizzle we should be able to put the air conditioning back on for a few days in August.
I hope you're happy Dewa. And well done for your improved credit outlook. Shame about ours.
scronin@thenational.ae
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Company%20Profile
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
RESULT
Al Hilal 4 Persepolis 0
Khribin (31', 54', 89'), Al Shahrani 40'
Red card: Otayf (Al Hilal, 49')
MATCH INFO
Burnley 0
Man City 3
Raheem Sterling 35', 49'
Ferran Torres 65'
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs
Engine: 4 liquid-cooled permanent magnet synchronous electric motors placed at each wheel
Battery: Rimac 120kWh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power: 1877bhp
Torque: 2300Nm
Price: Dh7,500,00
On sale: Now
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Company%20Profile
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ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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