The technicians took only 10 minutes to fix the problem and restored the electricity supply at Muammar Al-Omari area of Shumaisy District in Riyadh, where around 60 families including children suffered in the hot summer weather for over 40 long hours due to a power breakdown. Dr. Farouk Ahmed Meer, an ICU physician in Shumaisy General Hospital, said at least three technicians visited the troubled spot and within 10 minutes fixed the problem that restored the electricity supply at midnight, Wednesday. However, for want of a 10-minute maintenance job, more than 60 families including children suffered for over 40 hours without electricity, he said. He said the residents of the area tried their best to register their complaint with the concerned authorities. “Our complaints mostly fell on deaf ears,” he said. The power broke down at around 1:30 P.M. on Tuesday and by Wednesday night most of the families, unable to endure the sweltering weather conditions in Riyadh, started to shift to their colleague's, relative's or friends' houses due to the heat. A number of residents approached the electricity office located at Exit 17 and in order to lodge their complaint about the suffering of the people. Then three technicians visited the troubled spot and within 10 minutes the electricity supply was restored, he said. “It was a very minor fault that involved changing a fused wire at a power grid station. The technicians took hardly 10 minutes to fix the problem and the electricity supply was restored, but only after we had all endured 40 hours of power breakdown,” Dr. Meer said. It would be highly recommended that the electricity company issue instructions to the maintenance department to first visit the trouble spot and assess the nature of the problem, he added. He said the officials at 933, the number for registering electricity complaints and a follow up number of the Electricity Regulatory Board for Consumer Affairs for Electricity and Water, 2019225, were not interested in registering the complaint. Instead of issuing instructions to the technicians to visit the trouble spot, they (electricity officials at 933) kept on referring the complainants to other departments, he said. Despite the long delay, he said the residents thanked the authorities for sending technicians to fix the problem. However, it would have been better if prompt action had been taken, which could have avoided the suffering of women and children for over 40 long hours without electricity, he added.
