I heard a story, which Google could not help me confirm, about a power blackout in Sweden. The story goes like this: The inhabitants of a small town in Sweden were surprised by a power cut late at night. I say surprised, and maybe shocked, because power cuts are unimaginable in Sweden.

It is a country usually competing for the first ranks in quality of life and happiness. Power cut just does not go well with all that. The power breakdown lasted for a couple of hours before everything restored to normal. When the inhabitants of that town woke up in the morning, wondering about what had happened last night, they were faced by yet another surprise. On each and every door in that town, there was a letter. I could imagine the hesitation in their eyes while turning the letter nervously in their hands and finally opening it to find an apology from the town mayor for the inconvenience caused by the power cut and clear steps as to how they should apply for compensations.

The story could be false, a sort of urban legend but I cannot stop myself of feeling jealous of those people, even if they are imaginary.

I have been through a similar experience myself; the power cut part, not the apologetic letter one. My entire neighborhood once experienced two to three hours of power cuts for seven consecutive days.

Every time, I used to call the emergency number of the electricity company and every time I used to hear the same response: “There is a problem in the main station and power will be restored to your area within an hour.”

I can understand the challenges the power utility is facing in the country. Saudis consumption of electricity is three times higher than the world average, the current generation capacity, at about 55GW, is barely meeting the huge demand of the growing population and the expanding industrial sector.

There are many electricity generation projects under way and it is estimated that by 2020 the power generation will reach 120GW and the national grid will be upgraded by 2016.

One can understand all this but what gets my goat is the service provider’s inability to provide good quality customer service, which also includes issuance of notifications about planned outages.

Many electricity companies around the world provide details about their planned outages and how customers should be prepared to deal with it. Why that can’t happen here?

If a company is able to reach the consumers with the bills, it won’t be difficult for it to inform them about any power outages.

The issue is not only about outages; the list of below average customer service goes on and on.

Maybe it is time we rethink the monopoly in the energy sector. It seems we need competition for the services to be enhanced and diversified. Competition is a catalyst that drives companies to consider creative ways to attract and retain their customers. Look at Europe, there are 18 companies to provide electricity in the UK, 8 in France, and 4 in Sweden.

Someone might argue that the subsidized tariffs granted by the government are a good reason to keep the status quo; however, there are ways to subsidize and yet create a competitive environment.

@smaldosari