Okaz newspaper

MANY people have been complaining about high electricity bills. They had written to the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), expressing their anger because of the high bills, but the company did not react to those complaints.

Since the company has chosen to ignore people's complaints then what is the next step that needs to be taken? Shall we blame the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, since the SEC is a company like any other company under the umbrella of this ministry? Shall we call for help from the consumer protection agency? Shall we go to the judiciary or present our complaints to the royal court?

We are not against the power company making profits. We wish the best to everybody but this is definitely not the right time to increase the electricity charges because the market cannot handle it. Companies that are working on central-air-conditioning system are facing a very tough situation, excluding Saudi Aramco and the SABIC affiliates.

Fawaz Aziz, in an article published recently in Makkah daily, wrote about the revenues of the SEC. Aziz said in his article, "Not only are the citizens complaining about the hefty power bills, but the SEC, which is surprised and shocked by people's complaints about the bills, is itself complaining about the high bills from the General Authority for Zakat and Tax."

He said the company made a total revenue of SR11.4 billion in the first quarter of this year, which is an increase of SR2.5 billion over the same period last year. Then the SEC is complaining about a bill of SR375 million from the General Authority for Zakat and Tax for the period between 2009 and 2014, he added.

According to Aziz, the SEC is complaining about the Zakat and Tax bill despite being the only electricity producer and distributor in Saudi Arabia. How can this company not make profits when it charges the consumer for everything including the installation of electricity meters and reading of the meters each month, in addition to the high bill for actual consumption?

For example, even if all homes in Saudi Arabia did not use electricity for a whole year, the SEC will make a profit of nearly SR1 billion from the monthly charge of SR10 for preparing approximately 9 million bills.

This is the second time I am writing about the complaints of electricity bills, and I hope this time the company will listen.