Article 14 of the Saudi Electricity Law

This article deals with the restructuring of the electricity sector, meaning reorganizing its activities to open the way to competition, and divides the roles as follows:

First: the Ministry's role in the plan. The Ministry of Energy, in coordination with the relevant bodies, develops, reviews and amends the plan to restructure the electricity sector, in light of the policies approved under Article 3 of the law. The purpose of the plan, as the article states, is:

• Improving the level of service and extending it to everyone.
• Achieving reliability and availability of electricity supplies throughout the Kingdom.

Second: following implementation. The Ministry and the Authority, each within its remit, follow the implementation of the approved plan to restructure electricity activities, so as to enable:

• Achieving legitimate competition.
• Increasing private sector participation.
• Limiting monopoly.
• Moving to an electricity market.

Under Article 1, an electricity market is a state in which electricity is bought and sold according to free market factors, with the price governed by the law of supply and demand.

The article does not specify the content, stages or timetable of the plan. It sets only the framework and the roles. It connects to Article 13, which requires a licensee not to enter into arrangements that hinder competition and requires the Authority's approval for mergers and share purchases, and to Article 15, which sets out what the Authority does when moving to an electricity market: protecting the rights of investors who develop projects and protecting consumers from large price fluctuations.