Only 15 percent of new commercial buildings in the Western region have mandatory thermal insulation, which is aimed at helping to conserve the country’s energy resources, a leading official at the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) said recently.

Fahd Al-Husseini, adviser to the chief executive officer at the SEC, said that this amounted to only 580 out of 15,000 new buildings in the region. He said contractors have failed to abide by the regulations despite repeated warnings by the SEC.

He said Jeddah has the poorest compliance, with only 52 out of 5,200 buildings, or less than 5 percent. Most of those complying are contractors developing residential buildings.

Al-Husseini said the SEC has contacted the Jeddah municipality and initiated the first phase of a project to ensure thermal insulation in all new buildings. He said contractors developing 13,000 residential and commercial buildings have said they would comply with the regulations. Others are also expected to do so.

He said the SEC plans to cut off electricity to all buildings that have not installed the mandatory insulation. They would be given power once they are issued compliance certificates from the SEC.

Al-Husseini said some contractors have failed to abide by the regulations because of insufficient financial sanctions, while others believe the matter is not important.

The Saudi government has made it mandatory for buildings to have thermal insulation in 24 major cities to cut down on on rising energy costs. The 24 cities represent 80 percent of the Kingdom’s population. An estimated 70 percent of residential buildings in the country lack thermal insulation.