TEHRAN – Iranian Energy Minister said on Wednesday that his ministry is considering new incentive packages for low-consuming households and industrial electricity subscribers, IRIB reported.

“Last year, nearly 10.6 trillion rials (about $25.2 million) was paid to low-consuming households and industrial subscribers, and this year too, new incentive packages have been considered for awarding such consumers,” Reza Ardakanian said on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting.

Ardakanian also mentioned the management of electricity consumption during the cold season and said: “The [upcoming] winter is expected to be very cold and in this regard, the subscribers who make optimal use of heating devices and consume less electricity will also be rewarded.”

The official expressed satisfaction with people’s cooperation in the ministry’s consumption management programs and noted that the peak consumption figure for the current hot season has increased by only one percent compared to the figure for the previous summer.

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

This year too, the electricity consumption pattern has been following an upward trend since the beginning of the summer as the weather has got hotter all over the country.

On July 19, daily electricity consumption in the country reached 58,104 megawatts (58.1 gigawatts) to register the highest power consumption recorded in the history of Iran’s electricity industry.

Meanwhile, the ministry called on people to cooperate and manage their consumption to get through the summer without any blackouts.

Since the beginning of the hot season, the energy ministry has been implementing new programs and strategies for encouraging people and industries to optimize their electricity consumption.

In late May, the Energy Ministry’s spokesman for the Electricity Sector Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi had said that last year, nearly 3.06 trillion rials (about $72.85 million) were paid to the households and industrial subscribers cooperating in the consumption management program in the form of incentives and relief packages.

EF/MA