JEDDAH – Abdullah Al-Shehri, Governor of the Electricity and Co-Generation Regulatory Authority (ECRA) attributed the frequent blackouts and poor power supply that cities all over the Kingdom have been suffering from this summer to power stations that have well passed their life expectancy. “The implementation of several mega projects has prevented the Saudi Electricity Company from utilizing its income to replace old equipment. Instead, the company conducts periodical maintenance of several stations that have outlived their life expectancy, which it turn affects the quality of service,” Al-Shehri was quoted by Al-Eqtisadiah Arabic daily as saying. “Compared to other countries, the demand for electricity has been increasing rapidly. In the Kingdom, the percentage of increase has reached 9 percent per annum, a very high number if we compare it to other countries where demand increases by 2 or 3 percent per annum,” he added. ECRA conducts studies on the causes of power outages in the Kingdom and looks for more efficient solutions, aided in this process by the SEC. Al-Shehri said solutions might take some time but there are continuous plans to produce more electricity and hook more houses to the national grid. Al-Shehri said the poor performance of electricity networks in many cities is being improved and said the Kingdom is investing over SR450 billion over the next 10 years to increase power generation. More relay power stations and networks are being set up in different areas of the Kingdom and once completed, they will be linked to the central power grid. Moreover, old equipment will be replaced with newer, more efficient models. “These projects will cost a huge amount of money. They should be implemented in a timely manner and properly so that they can absorb increasing demand,” said Al-Shehri. ECRA has asked the SEC to provide it with reports on the power outages that have taken place recently in several regions of the Kingdom. ECRA will study the reports and see whether the reasons for power failures were beyond the SEC's control. If this is the case, the SEC shouldn't be held responsible and shouldn't be asked to bear the costs of losses. If the blackouts happened because the company was negligent and didn't take precautionary measures, a fine will be imposed on it and the owners of houses who incurred losses because of power failures will be compensated. Over the past few days, power failures took place in several cities in the north, south and east of the Kingdom. In a statement, the SEC said it is implementing projects to built power generation and relay stations and update electricity stations and networks. Work is being carried out to connect all regions in the Kingdom to a single electricity grid.
