TEHRAN- The consumption of electricity in Iran has risen six percent in the current year’s autumn as compared to the same season in the past year, Energy Ministry's Spokesman for Electricity Industry Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi announced.

The peak time of electricity consumption in the autumn occurs at night and is about 41,700 megawatts (MW), which is an increase of 3.3 percent compared to the same period last year, the official added.

Currently, the electricity network is stable and there is no problem with electricity supply, he mentioned.

Pointing out that there is currently no planned blackout due to fuel shortages in power plants, Rajabi Mashhadi continued: “Electricity is supplied to industries and so far no restrictions have been imposed on industries.”

Referring to the forecasts of the Meteorological Organization regarding precipitation and cold weather, the official said: "With the realization of this forecast, there is a possibility of reducing the gas quota and consuming more liquid fuel to supply electricity to subscribers."

Iran has been facing some serious challenges regarding electricity supply over the past decade mainly due to the temperature rising and decrease of rainfalls.

Some other factors, such as high illegal cryptocurrency mining, have even worsened the situation in the country this year, as the citizens suffered a lot from the constant power outages, while it also caused serious damages to the activities of industries.

Although every year nearly 3,000 MW is added to the country’s power generation capacity, the reduction in the rainfalls and the decline in the water storage behind the dams has reduced the electricity generation offsetting the added capacity.

Such condition made electricity supply one of the major concerns of the government, so the Energy Ministry and related organizations took various measures to tackle the problem.

Consumption management was one of those measures, as the ministry offered incentives to the low-electricity consumers, while it set some penalties for the high-electricity consumers.

The other measure was to renovate the electricity network and equipment, as it is necessary to prevent power loss by replacing high-efficiency equipment with low-efficiency ones and renovating worn-out electricity distribution networks.

This is true for all electrical equipment, which consumes a lot of energy when worn out, therefore it should be definitely renovated.

For example, renovation of electrical panel can lead to economizing on power consumption by 40 to 50 percent.

To renovate the electrical equipment, some budget has been allocated.

According to Rajabi Mashhadi, the use of worn-out electrical equipment is one of the important factors in increasing electricity consumption, so it is planned to renovate such equipment with the help of government resources and resources obtained from the government's subsidy reform plan.

“One of the most effective ways to reduce power consumption is to replace electrical equipment that is not efficient due to wear and tear”, he noted, adding, “Replacing this type of equipment and replacing it with up-to-date equipment has a great effect on reducing energy consumption”.

The official has announced that it’s being tried to replace such equipment with some new ones based on a plan.

MA/MA