Saudi Electricity Company

Saudi Electricity Company (SECO), the Gulf’s largest utility by market value, was created by the amalgamation of 10 local electricity firms in Saudi Arabia nine years ago.

SECO has since enjoyed a monopoly on the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across the Kingdom, managing 37,000 megawatts of power across some 45 plants. However, that may be set to change.

Last month a senior government official said Saudi planned to split SECO into four independent power generation companies to encourage more competition.

The company, which is currently 80 percent state-owned with a float of 20 percent on the Saudi stock market, is likely to be divided by 2010, said Abdullah Al Shehri, vice governor for regulatory affairs at Saudi Arabia’s Electricity and Cogeneration Authority.

SECO posted a net loss of $116.3m in the fourth quarter, down 32 percent on the $171.5m it made a year earlier.