TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Management Company, known as Tavanir, said by applying consumption management programs the Energy Ministry managed to prevent the consumption of 70 trillion rials (about $1.66 billion) worth of electricity during the summer peak period, IRNA reported.

During the past summer, by spending 3 trillion-4 trillion rials (about $71 million-$95 million) on encouraging consumption management programs, the Energy Ministry managed to prevent the consumption of 70 trillion rials worth of electricity, Mohammad-Hassan Motevalizadeh said on Sunday.

“Implementation of this program allowed us to pass the summer without any power outages,” the official said in a meeting of directors of the Energy Ministry subsidiaries’ public relations departments.

He noted that Iran’s electricity network has 100 percent coverage across the country, adding that this is an indication of the Iranian electricity industry’s leadership in the region and the world.

Back in August 2019, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian had said that consumption management programs had reduced the summer peak electricity consumption by 3300 megawatts (MW).

“This summer, about 3,300 MW of electricity was managed and this amount of saving prevented the construction of a new 7,000-MW power plant with $5 billion of investment,” Ardakanian said.

According to the official, based on the ministry data and statistics, the country’s electricity consumption was expected to reach nearly 61,000 MW in the summer peak period, however so far the highest consumption level has not exceeded 57,000 MW.

“This means that proper consumption patterns are being widespread in the country, promising a future of comfort, security, and prosperity,” he said.

In the past decade, constant temperature rising and the significant decrease of rainfalls across Iran has put the country in a hard situation regarding electricity supply during peak consumption periods.

Last year, the volume of water behind the country’s dams went so down that electricity output from hydropower plants fell to a decade low. The situation was worsened by a jump in electricity consumption due to a heat-wave that blanketed the country during summer and consequently led to a huge gap between actual power generation and consumption.

In this regard, the Energy Ministry has been following new strategies in recent years to manage the consumption and lessen the electricity losses in the national grid.

EF/MA