Energy and environment: electricity, homes and drinking water
Licensed electricity generation capacity, peak load and consumption in Saudi Arabia, electricity sold in each administrative region by category, insulation, fuel and solar energy in homes, and the source of drinking water, as the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) publishes them; and fuel prices announced by Saudi Aramco. Electricity to 2024 (1445–1446 AH); household energy and drinking water to 2024 (1445–1446 AH).
Electricity in Saudi Arabia year by year
2019 (1440–1441 AH) to 2024 (1445–1446 AH).
| Year | Licensed capacity (GW) | of which renewable (GW) | Peak load (GW) | Consumption (thousand GWh) | Transmission and distribution loss % | Residential use per person (kWh a year) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 85.0 | 0.30 | 62.1 | 288.6 | 9.4 | — |
| 2020 | 90.0 | 0.30 | 62.3 | 289.3 | 10.8 | — |
| 2021 | 90.0 | 0.61 | 64.2 | 301.6 | 10.3 | — |
| 2022 | 90.5 | 0.70 | 65.3 | 309.5 | 10.1 | — |
| 2023 | 91.1 | 2.80 | 70.7 | 327.0 | 9.5 | — |
| 2024 | 92.5 | 6.55 | 74.8 | 340.4 | 8.5 | — |
| Licensed capacity by type of generating unit (GW) | 2019 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Steam units | 38.00 | 41.80 |
| Gas units | 29.60 | 29.30 |
| Combined cycle | 16.70 | 17.10 |
| Diesel | 0.40 | 0.20 |
| Renewable energy | 0.30 | 6.55 |
| Total published capacity | 85.0 | 92.5 |
A difference within the source itself: the sum of capacities by unit type as GASTAT published it exceeds the published “total capacity” in most years (by up to 2.6%). We show both as published and do not correct one with the other.
- Public bodies and research offices: See the size and direction of the electricity system: how much capacity grew, how much of it is renewable, and how much is lost in the network.
- A factory or energy-intensive project: Peak load approaches capacity in the summer months; this is general information about the system, not about the availability of power at a particular site.
A description of what the figures say, not advice; the decision is yours.
Electricity sold by region and category
How much the electricity companies sold in each administrative region for each consumption category, 2024 (1445–1446 AH), in GWh. The largest industrial consumption is in Eastern Province. GASTAT does not publish licensed capacity or peak load by administrative region; what is published by region is sales for 2024 only.
| Region | Residential | Commercial | Government | Industrial | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riyadh | 45,213 | 19,429 | 11,279 | 7,387 | 4,179 |
| Makkah | 41,260 | 16,457 | 8,002 | 7,892 | 3,598 |
| Eastern Province | 26,659 | 10,484 | 5,605 | 36,641 | 4,113 |
| Madinah | 10,427 | 3,740 | 2,168 | 8,266 | 3,448 |
| Qassim | 7,145 | 1,868 | 1,876 | 1,044 | 1,196 |
| Asir | 7,478 | 1,795 | 1,880 | 293 | 1,033 |
| Tabuk | 3,641 | 43 | 1,049 | 99 | 447 |
| Hail | 3,399 | 834 | 995 | 282 | 687 |
| Jazan | 7,943 | 1,911 | 2,261 | 1,407 | 356 |
| Najran | 2,345 | 863 | 872 | 28 | 35 |
| Al-Baha | 1,434 | 379 | 388 | 21 | 57 |
| Al-Jouf | 2,547 | 551 | 703 | 41 | 242 |
| Northern Borders | 1,716 | 431 | 442 | 27 | 45 |
| Saudi Arabia (consumption by category) | 161,207 | 58,821 | 37,520 | 63,446 | 19,436 |
The Saudi Arabia row comes from the source’s “consumption by category” table; we checked that the sum of the regions matches it in every category (difference below 0.1%).
| Peak load (GW) | Central | Eastern | Western | Southern | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 19.8 | 19.0 | 15.8 | 6.4 | 62.3 |
| 2021 | 20.0 | 19.2 | 16.4 | 6.6 | 64.2 |
| 2022 | 21.1 | 19.9 | 16.4 | 7.0 | 65.3 |
| 2023 | 22.4 | 20.9 | 18.3 | 7.6 | 70.7 |
| 2024 | 24.7 | 22.1 | 19.3 | 8.2 | 74.8 |
The four “operating areas” are the divisions of the electricity grid, not the 13 administrative regions. Regional peaks do not occur at the same hour, so their sum does not equal the national peak.
- An electrical supplier or maintenance contractor: See where commercial and industrial consumption concentrates.
- Someone studying a region for a new activity: Read residential consumption as a rough size of the homes there. The figures are totals for a whole region, not a city or district.
A description of what the figures say, not advice; the decision is yours.
Energy in the home by region
From GASTAT’s household energy survey, 2024 (1445–1446 AH) (% of homes or households): homes with thermal insulation, homes using cooking gas or kerosene, households that would like solar energy for their home or care a lot about saving electricity, and residential consumption. The highest insulation rate is in Najran and the lowest in Asir.
| Region | Thermal insulation: yes % | Thermal insulation: don’t know % | Use cooking gas % | Use kerosene % | Would like solar energy % | Very interested in saving % | Residential consumption (GWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 45.8 | 29.8 | 86.6 | 1.1 | 40.8 | 91.5 | 161,207 |
| Riyadh | 43.1 | 39.0 | 88.0 | 0.7 | 43.3 | 93.5 | 45,213 |
| Makkah | 47.3 | 28.5 | 90.9 | 0.2 | 40.7 | 89.7 | 41,260 |
| Eastern Province | 53.3 | 30.6 | 65.2 | 1.9 | 32.9 | 91.8 | 26,659 |
| Madinah | 49.9 | 27.2 | 91.1 | 0.5 | 21.9 | 92.9 | 10,427 |
| Qassim | 54.7 | 18.2 | 97.3 | 0.4 | 33.4 | 89.7 | 7,145 |
| Asir | 29.3 | 25.9 | 91.4 | 0.5 | 59.0 | 85.1 | 7,478 |
| Tabuk | 41.5 | 35.8 | 89.9 | 0.2 | 28.7 | 89.8 | 3,641 |
| Hail | 39.5 | 13.4 | 89.2 | 2.1 | 37.9 | 82.0 | 3,399 |
| Jazan | 37.6 | 14.2 | 98.6 | 0.9 | 66.1 | 97.3 | 7,943 |
| Najran | 58.9 | 10.9 | 92.4 | 0.1 | 70.2 | 99.9 | 2,345 |
| Al-Baha | 40.1 | 21.5 | 88.9 | 0.3 | 57.4 | 92.5 | 1,434 |
| Al-Jouf | 35.7 | 21.4 | 96.9 | 23.8 | 36.6 | 97.0 | 2,547 |
| Northern Borders | 48.8 | 13.0 | 92.5 | 2.9 | 31.6 | 93.2 | 1,716 |
“Don’t know” is large: about a quarter of households or more do not know whether their home is insulated, so the “yes” share is a minimum, not the number of insulated homes. The figure is a sample estimate, and small differences between regions are inconclusive.
- An insulation supplier or solar panel installer: See in each region the share of homes without insulation, and the share of households that say they would like solar energy; a wish stated in a survey is not confirmed demand or sales.
- A gas or kerosene distributor: See how much each region relies on it.
A description of what the figures say, not advice; the decision is yours.
The previous survey (households)
The same survey before its update, with different questions and categories: the shares here are our calculation on the household counts GASTAT published, and Saudi Arabia is the sum of the regions. Do not join these columns to the table above. Survey years: 2021 (1442–1443 AH) and 2022 (1443–1444 AH).
| Region | Electricity from the public grid % (2022) | Use cooking gas % (2022) | Use kerosene % (2022) | Use solar energy % (2021) | Use energy-saving devices % (2021) | Home has thermal insulation % (2021) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 98.4 | 89.9 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 63.9 | 25.5 |
| Riyadh | 98.9 | 90.3 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 72.9 | 36.3 |
| Makkah | 98.5 | 91.4 | 0.2 | 2.5 | 70.0 | 25.2 |
| Eastern Province | 97.5 | 72.3 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 70.4 | 28.7 |
| Madinah | 96.1 | 90.1 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 48.1 | 17.4 |
| Qassim | 97.6 | 96.2 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 42.5 | 15.4 |
| Asir | 99.4 | 97.3 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 40.2 | 23.2 |
| Tabuk | 96.5 | 96.5 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 64.9 | 16.6 |
| Hail | 99.0 | 97.2 | 12.5 | 0.6 | 71.7 | 13.3 |
| Jazan | 99.2 | 97.8 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 35.6 | 13.9 |
| Najran | 99.0 | 98.0 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 54.2 | 16.6 |
| Al-Baha | 99.7 | 95.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 67.2 | 5.2 |
| Al-Jouf | 99.5 | 98.7 | 35.3 | 2.2 | 69.2 | 10.0 |
| Northern Borders | 98.8 | 97.0 | 24.7 | 2.5 | 47.5 | 7.1 |
Main source of drinking water at home
Household environment survey, 2024 (1445–1446 AH), % of homes: where households in each region get their drinking water — the public network, bottled water or water tankers. The highest share for the public network is in Hail, and the highest share for bottled water in Jazan.
| Region | Public network % | Bottled water % | Water tankers % | Other % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 36.5 | 47.3 | 15.8 | 0.3 |
| Riyadh | 45.9 | 48.2 | 5.6 | 0.3 |
| Makkah | 30.6 | 42.3 | 26.9 | 0.2 |
| Eastern Province | 30.2 | 61.7 | 7.9 | 0.2 |
| Madinah | 45.0 | 44.6 | 9.7 | 0.7 |
| Qassim | 51.8 | 26.4 | 21.5 | 0.3 |
| Asir | 25.8 | 39.8 | 33.2 | 1.3 |
| Tabuk | 47.2 | 48.0 | 4.4 | 0.5 |
| Hail | 71.6 | 5.8 | 22.2 | 0.4 |
| Jazan | 1.7 | 92.2 | 6.1 | 0.1 |
| Najran | 17.7 | 47.3 | 34.8 | 0.2 |
| Al-Baha | 24.1 | 74.4 | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Al-Jouf | 41.4 | 9.3 | 49.3 | 0.1 |
| Northern Borders | 59.8 | 6.1 | 34.0 | 0.0 |
| Saudi Arabia | Public network % | Bottled water % | Water tankers % | Other % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 28.7 | 49.1 | 21.7 | 0.6 |
| 2023 | 23.6 | 57.2 | 18.6 | 0.6 |
| 2024 | 36.5 | 47.3 | 15.8 | 0.3 |
The series is not read as a trend: the public network’s share in Riyadh Region was 30.7% in 2022 and became 45.9% in 2024, and the answer categories changed after 2021 (they used to include “filters” and “home well”). The jump is more likely a change in the question or classification at the source than a change in the water itself; so we show the latest year by region, and Saudi Arabia for the years GASTAT published it.
Drinking water services themselves are almost universal: the population using safely managed drinking water services is 99.9% in Saudi Arabia (2024), 100.0% in urban and 98.9% in rural areas. The “main source” here is what a household chooses to drink, not network availability.
- A bottled water distributor or a filter and desalination shop: See in each region how many households rely on bottled water or tankers as their main drinking source. This is a share of homes, not volume in litres or spending.
A description of what the figures say, not advice; the decision is yours.
Announced fuel prices
The price of a litre of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and LPG as Saudi Aramco announced it at each revision (SAR per litre, one price for all of Saudi Arabia). Gasoline was revised monthly until its ceiling was fixed on 10 July 2021 (30 Dhu al-Qa'dah 1442 AH); diesel is revised on 1 January each year since 2022 (1443–1444 AH); kerosene and LPG in mid-year. GASTAT’s average-price table does not include these products, so their source here is the official announcements.
| Product | Latest announced price (SAR/litre) | Oldest announced price we found | Change since the oldest price % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline 91 | 2.18 1 September 2026 (19 Rabi' al-Awwal 1448 AH) | 1.81 11 February 2021 (29 Jumada al-Akhirah 1442 AH) | +20.4% |
| Gasoline 95 | 2.33 1 September 2026 (19 Rabi' al-Awwal 1448 AH) | 1.94 11 February 2021 (29 Jumada al-Akhirah 1442 AH) | +20.1% |
| Diesel | 1.79 1 September 2026 (19 Rabi' al-Awwal 1448 AH) | 0.63 1 January 2022 (28 Jumada al-Ula 1443 AH) | +184.1% |
| Kerosene | 1.75 1 September 2026 (19 Rabi' al-Awwal 1448 AH) | 0.81 11 June 2022 (12 Dhu al-Qa'dah 1443 AH) | +116.0% |
| Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) | 1.09 1 July 2025 (6 Muharram 1447 AH) | 0.90 11 June 2022 (12 Dhu al-Qa'dah 1443 AH) | +21.1% |
All revisions with the source of each price (mostly Arabic news reports): full table(Arabic).
Limits of this table: Aramco’s official page shows only the current month’s price (we read it on 30 September 2026 (19 Rabi' al-Akhir 1448 AH)), so earlier revisions come from news reports of the announcement, linked for each price. LPG is not on the official page now; the last announced revision we found is 1 July 2025 (6 Muharram 1447 AH). We do not show gasoline 98 because its price changes every month.
- A transport fleet or equipment owner: A litre of diesel changed +184.1% between 1 January 2022 (28 Jumada al-Ula 1443 AH) and 1 September 2026 (19 Rabi' al-Awwal 1448 AH), and it is revised on 1 January each year, so operating costs are calculated on the announced price, not an old one.
- A restaurant or bakery: See the path of the price of a litre of LPG (+21.1% since 11 June 2022 (12 Dhu al-Qa'dah 1443 AH)).
- A household: The price of gasoline has been fixed at its ceiling since 10 July 2021 (30 Dhu al-Qa'dah 1442 AH). These are announced national prices, not what you pay at a particular station, and not a forecast of the next revision.
A description of what the figures say, not advice; the decision is yours.
- We do not know consumption, insulation or water source by city or district; the finest level is the administrative region, and Riyadh Region, for example, is wider than Riyadh city and includes its governorates and villages.
- We do not know any household’s bill or the electricity tariff, nor licensed capacity by administrative region (GASTAT does not publish it).
- The previous household energy survey is old (2022 at the latest), and the new survey covers two years only (2023 and 2024), so we do not draw a trend from them. The figures are sample estimates, and we do not forecast coming years.
- Household electricity use from the previous survey (winter and the rest of the year) is in the open file but not shown here: its unit is not stated in GASTAT’s table, and its total is about a fifth higher than electricity sold to residential customers.
- The shares in “the previous survey” are our calculation (households using ÷ all households); the other figures are as GASTAT published them.
Source: General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Saudi Arabia — Electricity statistics, household energy survey and household environment survey, the official source of the original data. DataPulse organised the data and made calculations on it (such as percentage changes and regrouping). This processing and its results are ours; they are not an official statistic issued by GASTAT and do not imply its endorsement.
Reuse terms: GASTAT data use policy. We do not use GASTAT’s logo or marks.
The attribution statement in Arabic (the Arabic text governs; the English above is a summary)
المصدر: الهيئة العامة للإحصاء (المملكة العربية السعودية) — إحصاءات الكهرباء، ومسح الطاقة المنزلية، ومسح البيئة المنزلية، وهي المصدر الرسمي للبيانات الأصلية. أجرت «نبض البيانات» على البيانات تنظيمًا وحسابًا (مثل: حساب نسب التغيّر وإعادة التجميع). هذه المعالجة والنتائج من إعدادنا وليست إحصاءً رسميًا صادرًا عن الهيئة، ولا تعني تزكية منها.
شروط إعادة الاستخدام: سياسة استخدام بيانات الهيئة. لا نستخدم شعار الهيئة ولا علاماتها.
GASTAT statistical database: electricity (DSD_EL_EAE_V_MV) · household energy (DPV_HES_EHE_IT_HES0201, DPV_HES_EHE_IT_HES0301, DPV_HES_EHE_IT_HES0303, DPV_HES_EHE_IT_HES0501, DPV_HES_EHE_IT_HES0602, DPV_HES_EHE_IT_HES0605, DSD_HES_EAE_V_MV) · household environment (DSD_HE_EAE_V_MV) · retrieved 30 September 2026 (19 Rabi' al-Akhir 1448 AH).
Files: gastat-electricity-annual.csv · gastat-household-energy-region.csv · gastat-drinking-water-region.csv · Hijri dates use the Umm al-Qura calendar.