TEHRAN - Electricity consumption in Iran has increased by 6,000 megawatts (MW) in the current Iranian year (started on March 20) compared to the previous year, Head of Iran's Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (known as Tavanir) Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said.

According to the official, electricity consumption in the country has currently reached about 80,000 MW as a new heatwave has hit the country in the past few days. IRNA reported.

Surveys show that one million new subscribers are added to the country's electricity consumers every year, 80 percent of which are in the household sector and the rest are related to other sectors, Rajabi Mashhadi said.

In late June, Iran Grid Management Company (IGMC) reported that the country’s electricity consumption registered a significant year-on-year growth.

The IGMC report said that as much as 69.091 GW of electricity was consumed in Iran at peak hours of the mentioned month which was more than 2.0 GW above that of the same period last year.

The country’s average electricity consumption on the same month last year stood at 67.648 GW, the IGMC data showed.

In order to meet the electricity demand in the peak summer period, the Iranian Energy Ministry has put several programs on its agenda among which increasing electricity production and managing consumption are the major ones.

The ministry is going to implement a comprehensive program during the summer, based on which low-consuming households are going to be rewarded while the subscribers whose consumption exceeds the normal level will face a penalty.

Over the past decade, constant temperature rises and the significant decrease in rainfalls across Iran have put the country in a hard situation regarding electricity supply during peak consumption periods.

Tavanir has repeatedly announced that the company is implementing a variety of programs for managing the situation and preventing blackouts in the country.

EF/