On the evening of January 26, 2025, an emergency meeting was convened by the Board of Directors of the Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority (SERA), chaired by Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. The meeting, which included the participation of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), was called to address a significant power outage that affected the southern region of the Kingdom at 16:01 earlier that day. The swift convening of the board highlighted the seriousness with which the authorities were approaching the situation.
The Board of Directors of SERA emphasized its ongoing collaboration with SEC to urgently restore electrical service to all affected areas. The board expressed its commitment to ensuring that electrical service was restored as quickly as possible, prioritizing the needs of the consumers who were impacted by the outage. Given the importance of uninterrupted power supply for both residential and commercial users, the restoration of service was deemed an immediate priority.
In addition to the restoration efforts, the SERA Board took decisive steps to address the root causes of the outage. It instructed SEC to conduct a comprehensive and urgent internal investigation to identify the technical or operational factors that led to the disruption. The company was tasked with preparing a detailed report on the findings of this investigation, which would serve as a basis for corrective actions and future preventive measures.
SERA’s Board of Directors reiterated its responsibility to uphold technical and operational standards within the electricity sector. It stressed the importance of ensuring that Saudi Electricity Company adheres to these standards to guarantee the continuous and reliable delivery of electrical services to all regions of the Kingdom. The board’s proactive approach reflects its commitment to safeguarding the rights of consumers and maintaining the highest levels of service across the Kingdom’s power infrastructure.