JEDDAH, 26 July — The Saudi Electricity Company said it had introduced a new service allowing subscribers to settle their bills in fixed monthly installments.
Company officials said the move would spare subscribers the trouble of paying huge sums in utility bills while ensuring uninterrupted power supply.
Muhammad Abdullah Al-Zaraa, SEC executive vice president, said the new service to be launched officially next week would target all consumer segments and was intended to help its clients manage their expenditure by cutting down on payments for utility services.
“From today, we are ready to provide the service to anyone wishing to join. A nationwide campaign to explain the new service will be launched next week. The service is optional and we hope that once people become aware of its objective they would welcome the move,” Al-Zaraa told Arab News from his office in Riyadh.
The system works as follows: A monthly average consumption rate is computed based on year-round consumption. Readings are taken every month and a bill is issued accordingly showing the amount due, the monthly installment to be paid and the balance, if any.
A final bill for settling the account is presented to the subscriber on yearend. If the sheet shows a credit account in favor of the consumer, he can either transfer the balance to the next year’s account or claim a reimbursement.
If the sheet shows a debit account, the consumer has to remit the balance in full. The SEC guarantees that under its agreement with the subscriber, the power would not be cut off unlike in the current billing system where electricity is disconnected once the subscriber fails to pay.
The Kingdom’s electricity network covers more than 7,000 cities and villages with more than three million subscribers.
“Many people are shocked to see their bills increased suddenly, especially during summer months when the bill may shoot up from SR200 to SR800 or even SR1,200. What we want is the subscribers pay a fixed monthly average that is far less than what they often had to pay. By this they would be spared the trouble of paying huge bills at unexpected times, thus disrupting their monthly budget,” he explained.
The Kingdom’s 10 regional electricity companies merged two years ago as part of a privatization drive. SEC, now one of the largest companies in the country, has a capital of SR33.75 billion ($9 billion). Plans to establish the Saudi Electricity Company were first announced in 1998.
The government said it intends to invest as much as $117 billion over the next 20 years to meet increasing demand from a rapidly growing population. There are also plans to grant concessions to the private sector to construct new power plants on a build-operate-transfer basis.
