Electrical overload and ongoing development projects and maintenance work have been attributed as the cause of the power outages recently witnessed in some cities. Abdul Salam Al-Yamani, Saudi Electricity Company's Vice Chairman of Public Relations, said that a lack of coordination between government departments and construction firms which disconnect electricity to carry out development projects or maintenance work has been the cause of most of the power cuts. He suggested that maintenance work should stop in the summer and resume in the winter after coordinating with subscribers and notifying them of any power cuts. “The Ministry of Water and Electricity together with the Electricity and Co-Generation Regulatory Authority (ECRA) should follow up the performance of maintenance companies,” he said. He added that there has been enormous development in the relay network infrastructure. Over the last 10 years, the number of relay stations and transformers as well as the length of networks have increased dramatically. There has also been tremendous development in the electricity-generating sector despite global financial crises and difficulties, high costs of projects and low revenue. ECRA increased its generating capacity from 25,790 megawatts in 2000 to the present 50,000 megawatts. There are 729 electricity generating units installed in 71 stations with actual capacity of 40,697 megawatts, with other units accounting for the remaining electrical capacity. An 85 percent growth in the energy sold to subscribers is expected by the end of 2011 and the number of subscribers is expected to grow by 65.5 percent, said Al
