Saudi Electricity Company: Plans to Enhance Investment Opportunities

In the last few years, in order to achieve the goals and aspirations of Vision 2030, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has been implementing a number of plans and projects for the localization of the electric power industries, which aims to transform Saudi Arabia into a promising regional center in this vital area.

This has contributed to an increase in the number of national companies and factories involved in the implementation of electrical projects and an increase in local industries used in the company's projects, compared to international materials and industries, in line with the National Transition Program 2020 (NTP 2020) to support the economy of the country.

Saudi Electricity Company is implementing a number of initiatives and investment opportunities in the electricity sector, rehabilitating local manufacturers and suppliers, as well as attracting foreign companies and factories to transform the Kingdom into a regional center for electrical industry in the Middle East and North Africa .

In further details Asharq Al-Awsat attained, SEC explained that it has a long-term strategy to support local content, factories and national companies and over the past years, it had taken important steps to support this trend.

With regard to the investment opportunities that can be offered by the company to local manufacturers, SEC revealed that it has prepared a booklet containing 100 investment opportunities to manufacture the materials needed. It confirmed that it is one of the first companies in the Kingdom and one with highest national procurement, up to 70 percent.

The Company explained that it developed direct communication channels with national manufacturers to exchange ideas and visions, discuss obstacles and problems that may impede the achievement of these strategic plans and determine the best practical solutions for them through holding specialized forums and periodic meetings with manufacturers and contractors.

It will also provide needed information for economic feasibility study of the materials that the company wishes to provide locally, in addition to publishing online the five-year plan for the company's needs of materials and spare parts, as well as technical specifications of the materials.

In the same context, SEC stressed that it is not possible to proceed with the implementation of its plans to settle the electrical industries in the Kingdom without the participation of national expertise and competencies, stressing that it is working on the implementation of a future strategy to increase employment opportunities for nationals in the field of electrical industries in the Kingdom.

Due to local experiences and capabilities, the Company was able to reach a number of achievements at the local and regional levels, with the Saudization rate reaching 91.1 percent. It indicated that its experience in the electric power industry and its vision for this vital sector is a pioneering experience.

SEC pointed out that Saudi engineers and technicians who lead the operation and management of electrical facilities and stations, proved that the people of this country are able to compete globally in all fields, especially since over 20,000 trained personnel graduated from various training institutes affiliated with it.

"The company's institutes have contributed over 30 years in developing the capabilities of thousands of young Saudis to work inside and outside the company and provide the various activities of the company with their needs," added SEC.

It asserted that employees and trainees’ assessments is done in accordance with the latest specialized programs.

The company succeeded in reducing the length of delivery of electricity to new subscribers to 28 working days, and delivering its services to about half a million subscribers in more than 13.1 thousand cities, villages, and residential communities in all regions of the Kingdom. The total number of subscribers in April 2018 reached more than 9.2 million, while the capacity of the power plants reached more than 54 GW.

The power plants’ efficiency reached 40 percent, which is the level planned to be reached in 2020, which is in line with the company's strategy in adopting technologies to reduce fuel consumption within the Vision 2030.

Saudi Electricity has also made a leap in its consumer services and e-services sector to facilitate all transactions for subscribers through digital channels. Recently, it transformed to electronic bill for all subscribers instead of the paper bill and will issue more than nine million electronic invoices in one day, which is 28 of each month.

In addition, the company started implementing solar projects in a number of power plants, such as Waad al-Shamal Power Plant. It also established several projects such as Saudi Electricity Company for the Development of Projects, and Dawiyat Telecom Company was licensed to use telecommunications services.

In 2017, Saudi Electricity Company ranked 14th worldwide among international power companies, according to Statista, an online statistics, market research and business intelligence portal.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.

Saudi Electricity Company: Plans to Enhance Investment Opportunities