Unauthorized cryptominers consume as much as half the total daily power used in Tehran City, an official with the Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said.
"With reports sent by the residents [from across the country] regarding unauthorized cryptomining, we managed to confiscate 3,000 mining hardware," Gholamali Rakhshani Mehr, Tavanir's deputy for coordination was quoted as saying by the news website Khabar Online.
Unlicensed miners use almost 2,000-3,000 MW a day. However, high consumption is not the only problem as they also inflict damage on the power distribution systems, which has recently led to outages with more rolling blackouts expected this summer.
According to Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, Tavanir's spokesman, more than 188,000 mining hardware was seized across the country in the past 12 months. "These equipment caused 180 trillion rials in damage to the national grid and power distribution equipment."
Shutting illegal cryptomining centers is in line with plans to alleviate the worsening power shortages. The move gained pace in recent weeks after President Hassan Rouhani ordered a ban on all cryptomining units until the end of summer to alleviate pressure on the national grid.
Patience Running Out
Tavanir again warned unauthorized miners last week saying that its patience was running out. The major utility also notified those mining the digital currency at home and told them to switch off. "Failing to comply their equipment will be confiscated and their electricity will be cut."
There is a plethora of reports about cryptomining in residential units and inn farms in Iran but no authentic data is available.
Mining virtual currency is legal in Iran and miners are allowed to operate under rules approved by the government in July 2019.
While cryptomining is accepted by the government as legal, illegal farms have cropped up with increasing speed using subsidized electricity because they must pay much higher tariffs if they operate with a permit.
In April the Energy Ministry revised cryptomining rules as per which 16,574 rials is charged for one kilowatt-hour of electricity.
The tariff is halved when household consumption is low and the grid is not under pressure as usually is the case in the summer months.
Rates double during restrictions like when power plants do not receive enough gas as feedstock or the national grid faces problems supplying households.
The new rate is more than three times the previous 4,800 rials for one kilowatt-hour. Electricity prices for cyrptomining are set as per power export tariffs and based on daily currency rates at Nima -- a currency platform where forex is traded among importers and exporters. Iran's installed power capacity is 84,000 megawatts.
