Saudi Electricity Company (; SEC) is the Saudi

electric energy Electrical energy is the energy transferred as electric charges move between points with different electric potential, that is, as they move across a potential difference. As electric potential is lost or gained, work is done changing the energy o ...

company. It enjoys a near

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

on the generation, transmission and distribution of

electric power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

through 45 power generation plants in the country. In 2019, SEC was ranked by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' as the 5th largest company in the Kingdom, and the 578th worldwide, with total annual sales of $17.1 billion .

History

The company was formed in 2000 by Order of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

through a merger of existing regional electricity companies in the Central, Eastern, Western and Southern regions into a single joint stock company. In 2009, the Electricity and Co-generation Regulatory Authority (ECRA) announced its intention to split the company into four generation companies and separate transmission and distribution companies to encourage competition in the domestic utilities sector. A transmission company – National Grid SA – was established in 2012 to operate the National Grid SA. In 2014, ECRA was said to have hired advisors on the break-up of the company. ECRA also confirmed the new generation companies will be open to foreign investment. The company is 81.24 percent owned by the government, both directly (74.31%) and through

Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ') or Aramco (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. , it is the fourth- l ...

(6.93%). In 2015, SEC, Taqnia Energy and

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST; ) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a governmental organization established in 1977 as the Saudi Arabian National Center for Science & Technology (SANCST; ); in 1985, it was renamed King Abdulaziz ...

(KACST) agreed to collaborate to build and operate the first standalone

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

station in the country. For the first six months of 2022, net profit fell 6.6% to SAR7 million, while total comprehensive income slipped 0.14% to SAR7.7 million.

References

External links

* — * — * Paper that an employee at SEC authored in 2017 on the effects of jointly reforming industrial fuel and residential electricity prices in Saudi Arabia. {{authority control Electric power companies of Saudi Arabia Government-owned companies of Saudi Arabia Energy companies established in 2000 Non-renewable resource companies established in 2000 Companies listed on Tadawul Government-owned energy companies Companies based in Riyadh Saudi Arabian companies established in 2000 Electric power monopolies

History

See also

References

External links