The state-run Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has had to warn religious observers ahead of the Eid-al-Adha festival not to improvise the killing of sacrificial goats and sheep using their electricity pylons, power lines and other equipment.
Eid al-Adha, or ‘the feast of the sacrifice’, begins on Friday.
It honours Ibrahim’s commitment to God when ordered to offer up his only son - not named in the Qu’ran as Ismail but widely accepted in Islamic literature as so - as a sacrifice.
In remembrance of the Ibrahim story, a goat or sheep is often slaughtered for feasts. One third of the meat is consumed by the family, another given to friends and relatives and the last part is donated to those in need.
It appears that rather than slashing the animal’s throat, as is usual in Muslim halal practices, there is a bizarre trend in the country in which people electrocute their Eid sacrifices instead.
The SEC said in a statement that field teams would be assembled to stop people trespassing on its property, endangering themselves and causing power cuts. Legal action would be taken against those found breaking the law, it added.
Eid al-Adha is one of the holiest celebrations in Islam and marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia which must be undertaken once in a lifetime all physically and financially capable Muslims.
It will be marked by a four or five day public holiday in most Muslim countries - although in Saudi Arabia, celebrations last a whole fortnight.
Earlier this month, the mostly state-controlled SEC announced it had signed loan deals with international banks to the tune of £1.35m in order to finance some of the company’s capital expenditure projects.
