No compensation for power outages

JEDDAH: The governor of the Electricity Cogeneration Regulatory Authority, Abdullah Al-Shehri, said electricity companies in Saudi Arabia would go bankrupt if they decided to pay financial compensation to subscribers for the power outages witnessed at most regions.
“Outages cannot be avoided,” he said, adding that an electricity company would be fined if it was found that the outage was a result of negligence from their side. The electricity company files an annual report that includes outages. We carry out performance measuring that takes into consideration the reasons for the outages and the periods taken to restore power,” he said.
"In two weeks, the authority will launch a study to determine the regions that have witnessed the most outages so as to work on solutions," said Al-Shehri. If the study showed that the cost of solving the problem of outages is affordable by the company, then the company will solve it, and if not, the matter will be taken to higher authorities for a decision.
Al-Shehri was speaking at a workshop on a “smart meters strategy” organized by the authority in Riyadh on Saturday. During the workshop, the authority and Italian CESI Middle East signed an agreement for the latter to develop a smart grid and a smart metering strategy in Saudi Arabia. CESI will develop policies, specification requirements and an implementation plan for smart metering and an advanced metering structure.
Al-Shehri called for rationalizing power consumption by using high-performance electronics and to implement isolation in residential buildings which would reduce consumption rates by 10 percent.
He also said the authority is working on an ambitious solar energy program aimed at providing energy to meet the largely increasing demand for power. “Population growth means more consumption,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Water and Electricity and the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization are working on measures aimed at rationalizing power consumption. Of these measures, tags are to be attached to electrical air-conditioning and cooling products that show their level of performance. “This would reduce a consumer’s consumption by 20 to 30 percent,” he said.
About the new smart metering system, Al-Shehri said the aim is to improve the service. With it, an electricity company can read meters, cut and restore power from the control center at the company without the need to send field staff. Other applications in the system would enable subscribers to know the amount of their consumption and the reasons for an increase in consumption and to communicate with the company from home.