QUNFUDHA: About 10,000 residents of the villages of southern Hali who stayed in darkness after a power outage expressed anger at the repeated power losses. The residents, who demanded a steady supply of electricty, also said they could not report the outages via telephone and had to drive to the Saudi Electricity Company office to file complaints. Ahmad Muhammad Al-Harazi, a SEC regional engineer, said the outage was caused by the fall of the high-voltage cable transmitting electricity to the villages of southern Hali. A specialist team has been summoned to repair the damage, he added. Al-Harazi said maintenance on power lines to the villages is being executed in stages. He called on citizens to be patient until the work is complete. Ahmad Jaradi, Muhammad Al-Amri and Yassin Al-Dirhami, three Saudis who live in the area, stressed that their calls to the Emergency Department are not answered and called on officials to respond to the calls. They said they would file a lawsuit with the Board of Grievances to serve justice and force the electricity company to compensate them for their losses due to the power outages. Bahni Al-Sheikhi and Jaber Al-Sheikhi lamented that they lodged many complaints but the company's response was cold. They said power outages sometimes take place at mid-day so they and their families and children suffer in the scorching heat. Jaber Al-Sheikhi added that at times power is cut off and restored within seconds; he stressed that this could cause a short circuit or fire.
