JEDDAH: Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) said third-quarter profit advanced 34 percent on higher tariffs for power. Net income increased to SR2.3 billion ($610 million) from SR1.73 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website Monday. Third-quarter operating profit climbed 34 percent to SR2.18 billion. Saudi Electricity's shares closed up 2.4 percent to SR14.95 ($3.99) Monday ahead of the earnings announcement. The company said its net profit for the three months ending Sept. 30 was 117 percent higher than the second quarter of 2010, when it recorded a net profit of SR1.07 billion. For the first nine months of the year, net profit hit SR2.60 billion ($693 million), compared with SR1.67 billion a year earlier, a 55-percent rise. The company attributed the third quarter rise to stronger sales and improved tariffs on sales to government, industrial and commercial buyers. Saudi Arabia introduced revised electricity rates for the government, industrial and commercial sectors on July 1. The tariffs were forecast to generate more than SR3 billion in annual revenue, the official Saudi Press Agency said in June. Profit rose on revenue from “increased quantities of energy sold at higher rates as well as the modification of the tariff categories,” the company said. Saudi Arabia may raise electricity tariffs further as it seeks to improve energy efficiency, the industry regulator said this month. The Saudi Electricity and Co-generation Regulatory Authority will seek higher fees for first-time connectivity and capacity usage, Abdullah Al-Shehri, the body's governor said. The Kingdom wants private companies to contribute to the Kingdom's SR300 billion power-capacity expansion plan to help cut subsidy costs. The government spends about SR50 billion a year to subsidize fuel needed for power production, Al
