Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Electricity and Co-Generation Regulatory Authority (ECGRA) says it has received more than 5,000 complaints against the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) since the beginning of the year.

It said last year it received 4,239 complaints against the company with a rate of 46.8 complaints for each 100,000 subscribers.

"We have been able to resolve about 93 percent of these complaints," the authority said.

The authority said all the complaints focused on the substandard service, unwarranted power cuts, faulty meter reading, among others.

It said the discontented consumers can file complaints against the company through all available means of communication and if the issue was not solved within 10 days, the consumer can direct the complaint to the authority electronically.

The authority said it would carefully study each complaint and reply to the subscriber within 10 working days.

"If the subscriber is not content with the reply of the authority he or she can take the case to the committee for resolving differences, which is an autonomous body established by the Council of Ministers.

Meanwhile, the SEC said it would issue fixed electricity bills that will allow the consumer to pay an estimated amount every month.

"The subscriber in this case can assign a fixed budget for electricity bill every month and avoid high bills in peak summer months," it said.

The company said under this arrangement, the subscriber will receive the same bill every month of the year.

"The fixed bills are available for residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial sectors," it explained.

The company said as usual, the meter will be read regularly every month and the bill will be issued stating the amount of consumption and the tariffs to be paid.

"The consumer will have to pay an equal amount every month if he or she so wishes otherwise they will have to pay the actual amount in the bill," it said.

At the end of the year, the consumer will have to pay the difference.

"This arrangement was meant to make it easy for the subscribers to pay their bills on time," the SEC said.

The company came under fire for issuing bills for huge amounts last month.

Most of the complaints pertained to substandard services, unwarranted power cuts and faulty meter reading, according to the energy regulator.

Smart meters

The SEC has announced that it will install 2.5 million smart electronic meters in residential, commercial and industrial building in the next three years. The SEC has already awarded the contract to install the meters to a national company.

The first stage of the project scheduled to begin within two months and it will take three years.

Within five years, all current electricity meters will have been replaced with smart ones.

The move comes within efforts of the Electricity Company to raise credibility of its distribution networks and to ensure the highest level of precision in recording consumption and billing.

Installation of smart meters will cover all subscribers, the SEC said.