Business Review
Operational Excellence
As a key player in the Kingdom’s power sector, SEC focus remains unwaveringly centered on the seamless integration of generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure.
Throughout the fiscal year, SEC has diligently pursued advancements in technology, sustainability, and operational excellence to ensure a resilient and efficient power supply for the Kingdom. Moreover, SEC’s commitment extends beyond the grid, encompassing a dedication to providing exemplary customer services that prioritize responsiveness, accessibility, and customer satisfaction.
GWh
Total energy produced by the company’s plants
MW
Actual generation capacity of the company
MW
Actual generation capacity of the grid
Generation
of the company. This past year attests the commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainability. Amid the changing energy landscape, the steadfast focus on power generation propels the company as an industry trailblazer.
SEC’s Generation Business Line plays a pivotal role in enhancing the nation’s electrical grid stability. With state-of-the-art technology, the company’s diverse power generation units, ranging from 15 to 700 megawatts, constitute a significant portion, approximately 66%, of the Kingdom’s total capacity.
In fiscal year 2023, SEC generated 218.9 TWh, constituting over 57% of the Kingdom’s total electric power output. This highlight not only capacity but also efficient energy utilization, with approximately 368 million barrels of oil equivalent consumed, surpassing 37.7% in efficiency.
Despite the challenges, the company continued to lead in innovation and sustainability. The initiatives to establish power generation plants at different times reflect its commitment to the highest local and international safety, health, and environmental standards.
Through the adoption of a culture of continuous improvement, generation business line implemented comprehensive maintenance plans throughout 2023, which led to the promotion of occupational safety, health, and environmental practices. In response to the development of legislations, the company’s initiatives succeeded in achieving compliance, and even went beyond that to set new standards for excellence.
Key Achievements
As SEC delves into the key achievements that defined this fiscal period, it is with great pride that SEC showcases its collective efforts and unwavering dedication. These accomplishments underscore SEC’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and the pursuit of company’s strategic goals.
Applied best practices in process safety across the operations chain and enhancement of readiness and reliability of protection and firefighting systems in power production stations. Strengthened roles and responsibilities at power generation stations in implementing environmental protection and sustainability programs, achieving “ZERO” environmental incidents and violations of environmental regulations in alignment with the Environmental Management System, and the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture.
Won, thanks to the alliance with ACWA Power, the development of two independent production projects using gas turbine technology in combined cycle: Taiba 1 and Qassim 1, with a total capacity of (3,600) megawatts.
Achieved a 13.42% increase in electricity production compared to 2022, along with an increase in availability and a decrease in forced outage rates in the activity.
Achieved financial savings for the year 2023 through improvement studies, quality programs, and innovation amounting to approximately (109) million, achieved by implementing technical measures to increase efficiency, conducting studies utilizing expertise and creativity within the activity, reducing the need for external equipment maintenance, and benefiting from workshops at the stations.
Transmission
Transmission Business Line is the backbone of the energy landscape, ensuring seamless power transfer across regions. With an extensive network of strategically placed transmission lines and substations, guarantee grid reliability and facilitate the integration of diverse energy sources for a sustainable mix.
The past year saw significant strides in expanding and upgrading the transmission infrastructure. New transmission lines were commissioned, boosting grid capacity and reliability. Incorporating cutting-edge technologies increased energy transfer efficiency, allowing for better monitoring and control, minimizing downtime, and ensuring a resilient energy network.
Key Achievements
- Awarded, for the fourth consecutive year, for the Best Paper at the 19th Gulf Cooperation Council Conference on Electricity (GCC CIGRE).
- Awarded at the 19th Gulf Cooperation Council Conference on Electricity (GCC CIGRE) for being the most active participant with scientific papers at the conference.
- Honored with the Arab Award for Operations and Maintenance in the fourth category: (as the best company incorporating operational requirements within the artificial intelligence and digital transformation framework).
- Verified compliance with ISO55001 global standards for asset management during the first annual audit by National Grid SA. The assessment was conducted by the accredited evaluator from BUREAU VERITAS.
- Launched the Kingdom-wide Asset Information Management System (OSOUL).
- A patent for the invention of Engineer Faisal Bashir Al-Enezi from the National Grid SA entitled “High-Pressure Stations Ventilation Fan Base” was registered for the company with the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property on November 12, 2023.
- A patent for the invention of Engineer Khalid Muhammad Al-Qahtani from the National Grid SA entitled “Current Transformer Carrier” was registered for the company with the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, on December 18, 2023.
Distribution and Customer Services
Distribution and Customer Services Business Line aims to provide customers with a safe and reliable electrical service through a systematic and continuous development journey for the level of services provided to customers. This is within a high level of commitment to implementing annual plans and programs in order to provide high-quality services using the latest advanced technologies and facilitate all procedures for obtaining the services. The Business Line also works to achieve customer satisfaction through continuous improvement in all services provided to them. The strategic plans of the Business line are based on a number of pillars, the most important of which are:
- Securing supplies and improving reliability
- Safety and operational excellence
- Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies
- Financial sustainability
- Localization and Local Content
- Leading brand and customer experience
Services extend to the Two Holy Mosques and the Sacred Sites, ensuring their prioritized service remains a top commitment each year. This underscores the dedication to system stability and high-reliability services 24/7. The success in serving visitors during the Hajj season for the year 1444 H reflects the commitment of employees and exceptional teams in the field and behind monitoring and control screens.
All distribution stations in the Sacred Sites are now automated, replaced with smart stations to enhance network security and reliability. This initiative aims to improve the efficiency and quality of electrical services while enabling remote control and monitoring of the network. Notably, the absence of significant disruptions in the Sacred Sites, Pilgrim Housing Area, and the Grand Mosque during the Hajj season for the year 1444 H is a source of pride.
Key Achievements
Customer Service:
In the past year, SEC’s focus on customer service has been paramount. Embracing a customer-centric approach, the company has prioritized the needs and satisfaction of the customers, placing them at the core of the operations. Leveraging digital enhancements and streamlined processes, SEC’s goal is to make interactions more efficient and customer friendly. Here’s a summary of the noteworthy accomplishments:
Launched a new identity for 74 offices has significantly enhanced the visitor experience, improving aspects from the reception and welcome process (Meet and Greet) to the development of waiting and service mechanisms. Moreover, over 450 front-line employees across all sectors underwent training. Launched a user-friendly application and website marked a significant milestone, offering features such as simplified bill viewing, a 24/7 live chat service, and a virtual office service, further enhanced by the integration of convenient payment options through Apple Pay and credit cards. It is worth noting that the new application won the Silver Award for Best Digital Experience for Improving Customer Satisfaction and Happiness 2023, among more than 150 Gulf companies, in the Customer Happiness Summit & Awards (CHSA) in Dubai. It also competed in the International Customer Experience Awards (iCXA™23), with the participation of many international companies from 45 different countries, and a number of government companies and institutions. The Saudi Electricity Company won the Silver Award in Best Business Change and Transformation for the category of more than 10,000 employees, and the Bronze Award in Best Contact Center for the category of more than 5,000 employees. The Customer Voice program has been implemented, through which surveys are sent automatically and directly after the service is executed. The answers and feedback of customers are recorded in a unified system for analysis and the development of improvement plans in cooperation with all relevant sectors. The “Message from your customer” program was also launched as one of the programs emanating from the Customer Voice project. Through this program, all responses from customers through the sent surveys are reviewed and filtered for messages in which employees are thanked. These messages are then delivered directly to the relevant employee.
The developments and improvements during the past period included rewriting the contact messages with customers, major improvements to the automatic response system through contact centers, documentation of the locations of service offices through Google Maps, improvements to internal systems, which have a positive impact on customer service, and the waiting time in customer service offices was reduced by 45% to only 7 minutes.
The IVR automatic response system has been automated. The system now automatically detects the accounts associated with the calling number and proactively updates the caller with the status of their request with pre-recorded automated messages. This has made a qualitative difference, as 43% of listeners to the automated update did not need to speak to an employee.
Operational Excellence:
Improving distribution operations is a top priority for the Distribution Business Line, with the aim of enhancing the quality of its activities. To achieve this goal, a distribution strategy was developed, aligning it with the company’s overall strategy. Numerous initiatives and indicators were introduced to all organizational units. A comprehensive training and development program was launched, including the retraining of 615 meter readers, technicians (operation, maintenance, power dispatcher, and fault handler), competency assessments for 452 employees in all customer service offices, and the planning of development programs for the years 2024-2026. Additionally, 165 technical specialists were assessed for replacement programs, and 2000 contract employees were trained on issuing work permits within the low-voltage contractors’ project. Field connection visits were also automated.
Several guidelines and procedures were adopted to enhance work quality, improve operational processes, and performance indicators. Remote disconnection and reconnection were activated for all offices across the Kingdom, achieving a 92% implementation rate for remote disconnection and 88% for remote reconnection, following the increase in the communication rate to 95%.
Percentage increase in electrical power generation units
GWh
Simple Cycle
17%
GWh
Combined Cycle
39%
GWh
Steam Cycle
44%