Neither Saudis nor expatriates are surprised to hear this because it is their payments that resulted in the company’s profits. Electricity bills have become a burden for regularly paying consumers, let alone those who default in payments. We hope that the company would sacrifice a part of its huge profits by reducing its tariff at least in the summer.
Nobody objects to the company earning profits in a reasonable manner. But profits should be made after offering a satisfactory service to its customers.
The company should employ modern and flawless technology to ensure steady transmission and supply of power. There should be standby arrangements to guarantee the uninterrupted supply. The SEC officials do not seem to realize the need for quality service.
The company’s officials are not aware of the suffering of the common man, and so their responses to customers’ complaints are mostly lukewarm.
It was reported recently that when customers in a Jeddah district complained to an official about the prolonged power outage, the official said he was not aware of the problem.
The apathy of officials to the sufferings of the people has reached such an extent that company officials in some districts in Madinah province reportedly refuse to pick phones when victims of power failures call them.
Recently, I was the victim of a power failure that lasted 10 hours. When the company’s technicians finally restored the supply I asked them what caused the interruption. They told me it was because of the malfunctioning of a high-tension line.
They did not have any satisfactory answer to my question as to why the company did not use mobile transformers or some other standby arrangements.
Sometimes the company comes up with stupid justifications, such as the recent power failure in Al-Ula being caused by an unexpected rise in temperature.
Are we to believe that the electricity company’s engineers do not know that temperature shoots up (as does the electricity demand) in summer?
I believe that the only way to make the company take steps to improve its power supply system is to make its officials accountable for their gross negligence. Damage suits must be filed against the company for the losses caused by power failures.
The company should be made directly responsible for the death or aggravation of the condition of patients in hospitals or for the damage to machinery and other losses following a power failure.
Such legal steps would undoubtedly make SEC officials think seriously about improving the quality of their service.
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