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28 March 2024

Empower denies blame for Skycourts cooling

Published
By Eudore R Chand

In response to the Emirates24|7 report “40+ degrees and no cooling in 6-tower Dubai landmark” of May 8, Emirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower) clarified on May 12 that it is not responsible for the failure. It has blamed the Skycourts building management.

The Home Owners Association, that manages Skycourts, earlier put the onus on Empower.

While the blame is being denied by both Empower and the Home Owners' Association, the residents continue to suffer as the building’s cooling continues to fail in facing the full force of the Dubai summer.

“We regret to inform that there has been a cooling issue in the whole Skycourts buildings... The reason for the disturbance in the cooling service was attributable to a technical issue in the Empower facility... therefore, [we] could not provide the required standard cooling temperature to Skycourts buildings," the building management notice said on May 8.

"We are in direct contact with Empower since the issue [was] identified and they have assured that their teams are currently working round the clock to resolve it," the Owners' Association Management said.

Empower denied the onus. “A clear evidence of Empower’s non-involvement in the failure is that there was a major imbalance in the secondary circuit which is managed by the real estate company and  resulted in  extra cooling in corridors while apartments were not getting sufficient amount of cooling, as stated by one of the tenants in the article. It would be obvious to any person that this means that the cooling service was reaching the buildings; however, due to technical problems at the secondary circuit end, a huge imbalance was taking place,“ the company said in a statement.

The statement said Empower is not to blame for this situation, and the responsibility rests with the secondary circuit, which is managed by the real estate company.

Empower said it does seamless periodic maintenance of its plants at the various real estate projects, including Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai Healthcare City, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Business Bay.

“Unfortunately, this periodic maintenance caused a partial interruption in the service that lasted just a few hours in the district cooling service provided to Skycourts Towers on Dubai-Al Ain highway near Dubai Silicon Oasis,” Empower said.

But Empower reiterated that the real issue lies in the secondary cooling circuit that provides tenants with the service. ”This is not by any means the responsibility of Empower as the company is only accountable for the primary circuit that is provided to Skycourts.”

It explained that the secondary circuit offered by Skycourts to the tenants of the six towers was not functioning properly. “This is not a responsibility of Empower that is merely the primary supplier of the service that goes to Skycourts which delivers the service to its tenants through its network.

“Empower reaffirms that it regards its customers as the backbone of its operations as it believes that customer satisfaction is the key to business success. We are a dedicated provider of district cooling services through a group of professionals backed with the knowledge and technical expertise. We understand the frustration of the tenants, and sympathize with them, but, we are not responsible for this situation,” adds the statement.

However, Skycourts residents and tenants said the “imbalance” continues even now with corridors being far cooler than the apartments themselves.