A loss is not unusual for the largest listed utility in the Gulf, which makes losses during the coolest six months of the year on lower power demand, but turns a profit during the hotter second and third quarters, closing every year in the black. Saudi Electricity posted a net loss of SR782 million ($209 million) in the three months to end of March, compared to SR771 million a year earlier.
This is worse than a SR768.9 million average loss forecast in a Reuters survey earlier this month.
"The widening loss is due to an increase in purchased energy from independent producers in order to meet the growing demand for energy and is also due to rising costs from the start of new projects," SEC said.
The firm's operational loss was SR888 million, down from SR897 million a year earlier.
"Energy consumption in Saudi Arabia is highly seasonal resulting in operating losses every first and fourth quarter of the year. This is due to the lower use of air conditioning during the winter season," said NCB Capital.
Saudi Electricity is planning to raise up to $1.87 billion from a sukuk, or Islamic bond issue in May to fund expansion.
"The firm will start marketing the sukuk next week," Chief Executive Ali Saleh Al-Barrak said in post-earnings remarks carried by the Al-Arabiya television channel.
The firm is executing projects to add 5,105 megawatts of new power capacity by 2012 as demand for power in Saudi Arabia is growing at a rate of 8 percent annually.
Saudi Electricity shares last traded 0.9 percent below the previous day's close, slightly underperforming the benchmark which was down 0.67 percent.