Power cuts were experienced in various regions across the Kingdom Thursday as demand increased in response to the rise in temperatures. “The power cuts have been mainly due to climatic conditions and the unusual rise in temperatures,” said Abdul Salam Al-Yamani, vice chairman of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). In Qassim, repeated power failures over the last few days have increased fears of a repetition of summer 2009 when continual cuts were provoked by record-high temperatures. On Wednesday this week temperatures hit 50, and Buraidah and other towns were left without power for over an hour. A regional SEC official said that the last week had seen demand reach “historic highs”, although the SEC in Qassim noted last summer that a significant rise in demand from the previous year was due to the 13 percent “habitual” annual growth in the region. In Makkah, SEC supervisor Wa'il Hassanain said that plans were in place to tackle the expected rise in temperatures, “particularly in Ramadan”. “Demand is projected to increase by 40 percent on last year around the beginning of August,” he said. “We have laid out a plan to identify early the lines that may be subject to extra pressure. The main cause of failures is demand overload.” Vice Chairman Al-Yamani said that SEC sought to respond as quickly as possible to any reports. “Failures are addressed as swiftly as possible by our emergency response teams in all cities,” he said. “Any complaints from the public concerning the company's responses to their reports will be looked into.” – Hazim Al-Mutairi, Abdullah Al-Yousef and Abdul Karim Al-Murabba' contributed to this report __
