The power industry is having to expand to alleviate capacity constrains and this is opening up vast opportunities for investors. Between 1980 and 1998 the country's energy consumption more than doubled from 1.7 quadrillion Btu to 4.2 quadrillion Btu and now Saudi Arabia accounts for 1.1 percent of world energy consumption according to a July 2000 report by the United States Energy Information Administration.
Economic pace is set to increase further and the effects on the energy sector are already showing.
Earlier this month, officials reported a one-year 4 percent increase in the number of electricity subscribers in the eastern region. Bigger companies such as these will unequivocally add extra pressure on the Kingdom's stretched power generating capacity. But as the acting governor of the General Electricity Company, Fohaid bin Fahd Alshareef, pointed out, electricity plants in the eastern region are moving towards improved systems of procedures and policies in order to keep up with international production and distribution levels now necessary. The SEC has an important role. Although in the midst of restructuring, the Saudi electricity sector should make private power a more viable option.