Saudis use nine times more electricity than fellow ArabsPower & Utilities - Zawya
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Saudi individuals use on average nine times more electricity than their fellow Arab counterparts in Egypt, Algeria, Sudan and Morocco, according to a report published on Tuesday.
These countries have 185.6 million people, seven times more than Saudi Arabia. Egypt has a population of 79.39 million, Algeria 37.76 million, Sudan 36.43 million and Morocco 32.06 million. Saudi Arabia has a population of 28.4 million.
The report by the economic reporting unit of Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper stated that an individual in Saudi Arabia consumed on average 8,161 kilowatt an hour in 2011, compared to 951 kilowatt an hour by individuals in the four largest Arab countries.
A previous report by Al-Eqtisadiah stated that Saudi consumption of electricity rose by 3 percent in 2011 and 9 percent in 2012. The housing sector consumed 50 percent of the Kingdom’s total electricity production.
The energy sector is subsidized by the state, with the Kingdom using an estimated 4 million barrels of oil a day to power the country.
In the Kingdom, air conditioners consume 51 percent of all electricity production. This is also because local air conditioners have a low energy efficiency ratio (EER). The EER is the ratio of the cooling capacity, in British thermal units (BTU) per hour, to the power input in watts. The higher the EER rating, the more efficient the air conditioner.