JEDDAH, 19 April — A number of shopkeepers, mainly frozen meat and fish suppliers, butter shops and restaurant owners have threatened to sue the Saudi Electricity Company for losses suffered by them following the repeated disruption in power supply for the third straight day, Al-Madinah newspaper reported yesterday.
The power failure led to their produce, such as frozen meat, getting spoiled, while hotel owners complained that they had lost custom due to the outages. They complained that customers kept away from the restaurants because the air-conditioners were not working.
Abdullah Bahakim, a resident of the city, said the disruption in the power supply for the third day is a cause for worry. People wonder if this is the situation now, what will happen during the height of summer. Bahakim said that people are also asking what is the maintenance staff of the company doing, and some even asking whether the electricity company, which collects the charges without fail, would compensate the people for the losses suffered by them.
Sami Maabar, umdah of Al-Rasifah, said the outages at 2 p.m. disturbed his afternoon sleep as he could not remain in the room in the prevailing heat. Another man concurred that the frequent disruptions of power supply during the past few days had made it impossible for him to remain inside his home as temperatures soared beyond 40 degree Celsius. And Abdul Azim Al-Maabar, a businessman, said he was caught in a lift for 15 minutes during one such power failure.
Abdullah Al-Sanusi, a legal consultant, said any citizen has the right to file a suit against the electricity company at the Court of Grievances, the Summary Court, or any other common court for adequate compensation. However the court should get permission from higher authorities to proceed against a governmental or public undertaking.
Civil Defense, meanwhile, had to rescue nine people caught in lifts at different parts of the city on Tuesday.
Meanwhile 85 percent of Makkah residents were without electricity for several hours for three days since Sunday evening, according to Al-Watan newspaper. The electricity company at Makkah chose inappropriate hours such as, 10 p.m. to 12 p.m., daily in some parts of the city to disrupt the supply.
Sources in the electricity company said the disruption was caused by additional maintenance work. The evening hours were chosen because the air would be cooler.
In another incident, a girl who lit a candle following an outage during night caused a fire in which the whole apartment was gutted, umdah of Al-Iskan Al-Am said.
