Saudi Arabia: How a weekend without power turned into cash for 100,000 residents in Sharurah governorate

Dubai: The Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority (SERA) has ordered the Kingdom’s electricity company to provide financial compensation to the residents of Sharurah governorate following prolonged power outages last Friday and Saturday. The outages reportedly occurred during a period of significant temperature rise, affecting over 100,000 residents in the Najran region of southern Saudi Arabia.

In a statement released on Sunday, SERA requested the Saudi Electricity Company to implement compensation measures for all affected consumers within ten days, without requiring them to file complaints or claims.

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Additionally, the company has been instructed to immediately contact all consumers in Sharurah governorate to apologize and inform them of the compensation amounts, while also providing dedicated telephone lines for inquiries or complaints related to the incident.

According to the local newspaper Al Watan, the Guaranteed Electricity Service Standards Manual stipulates that the service provider must restore electrical service within six hours of an interruption.

If this standard is not met, the service provider is required to compensate each affected consumer with 200 riyals. For every additional hour beyond the six-hour standard, consumers are entitled to an extra 50 riyals.

The standards further specify that compensation should be provided within one month from the date of the outage, either through a deduction from the consumer’s monthly bill or a bank transfer to their account.