TEHRAN - Daily electricity consumption in Iran reached 55,071 megawatts (55.07 gigawatts) on Saturday to register a new record high, IRIB reported, citing the Energy Ministry’s spokesman for the electricity industry.

According to Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, the country’s electricity consumption increased by 1000 MW compared to the figure for the same date last year.

The rise in electricity consumption comes as last week the energy ministry had warned of the unprecedented increases in power consumption across the country.

“If electricity consumption continues the current upward trend, we will have to impose blackouts,” Rajabi Mashhadi regretted.

According to Rajabi, even though the summer peak consumption period has not started yet, new consumption records have been reported in 15 provinces of the country.

The official mentioned Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, Fars, Bushehr, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, and West and East Azarbaijan, Ardebil, Kerman, Zanjan, Qazvin, Yazd, and Sistan-Baluchestan as provinces that already broke the records of last year’s peak electricity consumption.

Last week, the country’s average daily electricity consumption exceeded 53,000 MW registering again anew record.

Rajabi Mashhadi called on people to manage their consumption and try to limit the use of air conditioners during the night time in order to decrease electricity consumption and prevent blackouts during the summer period.

In early May, Iran’s Power Generation and Distribution Company (known as TAVANIR) announced that the electricity consumption, since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20) up to May 6 increased by five percent compared to the same period last year.

According to Rajabi Mashhadi, despite the coronavirus outbreak which led to the closure of some industrial units, electricity consumption has been increasing in the country as the hot season is approaching.

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 peak consumption periods.

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