Okaz/Saudi Gazette

TAIF — Huge electricity bills of the current month has triggered an outcry with the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) issuing a statement on Thursday that higher electricity bills this month are due to the increased use of air-conditioning due to the hot weather conditions.

Many found the high prices not to their liking and took askance at the company’s reasoning for the hike in the bills. People replied to the company’s reasoning, saying that there were no such price hikes last year, so how can the company use the summer season as a justification.

The company, in its statements said there has been approximately 70 percent increase in electricity consumption in May and June because of the hot season.

SEC has also called on its subscribers to report any objections on their bills by contacting the company’s Call Center, its website or Twitter account.

Former Shoura Council member Hamad Al-Qadi stated in a tweet that weather and temperature is not related to the usage of electricity. Each person uses water and electricity depending on their familial needs and situations. The whole matter should be looked into more deeply.

The media personnel Salah Al-Ghaidan jokingly tweeted that perhaps he shouldn’t have gone on vacation because with all the electricity being off at home, the bill still came out high.

The price of electricity bills has hiked by 253 percent to users who only consume 2,000 kilowatts an hour within an entire month. Last year the price of one kilowatt per hour was 5 halalahs. But now the price has reached 18 halalahs for the single kilowatt in an hour.

The accumulated fee for users who consumed 2,000 kilowatts an hour within a month reached SR110 last year including the fee for the electric meter. However, this year many users’ fees reached SR388.5. Users who consumed 4,000 kilowatts an hour within a month received a bill of SR310. The first 2,000 kilowatts were 5 halalahs a kilowatt and after that limit the company charged 10 halalahs per kilowatt. This year, the bill reached SR766.5 an increase of 147.3 percent.

The bill for users, who consumed 6,000 kilowatts an hour within a month, increased by 61.2 percent. The company has decreased the price of halalahs per kilowatt starting from the 4,000th kilowatt to SR18 halalahs when it used to charge SR20 halalahs last year. But with the increase of the other bundles, the bill comes higher in comparison to last year.

SEC recently unified issuance of bills to all its nine million subscribers on the 28th of every Gregorian month, in line with a royal decree issued in this regard.

SEC also asked its subscribers to take advantage of the modern electronic channels for communication.

These channels include its subscriber care account on Twitter (@alkahrabacare), Subscriber Service Center via the unified number 920001100, and text messages (SMS) via the unified number 500120 on all mobile phone networks in the Kingdom.

Apart from these, there are many services on the company’s website se.com.sa and the application (ALKAHRABA) on smart phones.