South Jeddah residents decry power outages

Several residents in areas south of Jeddah have complained of the frequent power outages in their districts which are adding to their woes with the scorching summer temperatures where it is impossible to bear the heat without air conditioning.
They said that they have suffered power cuts in their area from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the hottest time of the day, at least three times since last Friday.
“We are suffering this week from the sweltering temperatures in our homes owing to the power outage which lasts for up to 3 hours at a stretch. It is particularly affecting the children and the elderly who are finding it hard to bear the August heat,” a Sudanese resident living in Al-Nuzlah district told Arab News.
“The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has come to fix the problem several times but we are still suffering from the lack of power everyday since last Friday,” Ismael Ahmed, a Saudi resident in Ghulail district told Arab News.
Arab News tried to call SEC but there was no response.
Temperatures are rising above 43 degrees Celsius in Jeddah this month while the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah have recorded the highest temperatures followed by the Eastern Province, Yanbu and Riyadh, according to the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME).
A number of residents in Jeddah had detained a vehicle of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) in the first two days of Ramadan to protest against its negligence to restore power to Al-Adel district in the east of Jeddah where they suffered an outage from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The SEC had clarified that the high consumption of electricity had increased the pressure on low ampere cables and that it sent a team to restore electricity to the district, according to local media.
The Kingdom registers the highest energy consumption rate in the world with the total energy consumed per individual reaching more than 40 oil barrels annually.
Energy consumption is mostly in the electricity sector and desalination with 52 percent, and the transport and industrial sector with 21 percent.
There is an urgent need for the Kingdom to look into alternate energy sources in view of the rising population growth and rise in demand.