TEHRAN - Energy Ministry’s Spokesman for Electricity Industry, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said on Tuesday that the country’s power network is in a stable condition and no power outage is expected to occur during the summer peak period.

Mentioning the implementation of a program called “Zero 99” (a plan aiming for zero power outages in the summer of the current Iranian calendar year 1399), Rajabi Mashhadi said:” This program means passing the summer peak consumption period without blackouts.”

According to the official, construction of 2,000 megawatts of new power plants, upgrading the production capacity of existing power plants, carrying out power plant overhauls and entering power plants with full capacity into the power grid and construction of transmission networks have been among the activities carried out in Zero 99 program.

He also referred to the implementation of incentive schemes for industries, farmers and the households and commercial sector, and added: "The positive results of these programs are clear this year since despite the high electricity consumption in the country, consumption growth has not yet reached one percent."

The official further noted that there have been no preplanned power outages so far, saying "Some occasional blackouts that we sometimes see are due to very high consumption, which may cause an accident in the network, which, of course, we will eliminate in the shortest possible time."

Last week, Iran's Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Management Company, known as TAVANIR announced that the daily electricity consumption in the country reached 58,104 megawatts (58.1 gigawatts), registering the highest power consumption recorded in the history of Iran’s electricity industry.

Meanwhile, Rajabi Mashhadi had said that 14 provinces were in the red zone for high electricity consumption and TAVANIR might be forced to cut some over-consumers from the grid.

“If consumers cooperate [and manage their consumption], we will get through the summer without any blackouts, otherwise we will have to impose some restrictions,” Mashhadi told ILNA on July 18.

EF/MA