As per a government proposal, schools that use water and electricity within a certain limit will be exempt from paying bills in the next fiscal year (March 2020-21), the energy minister said Wednesday.
“If the proposal is approved by Majlis, (despite the Energy Ministry’s strong opposition) schools will not be charged for power and water unless they exceed a certain level,” Reza Ardakanian was quoted as saying by ILNA.
“In our view it is a wrong policy to provide education institutions free electricity and water. But we must respect the decision of the parliament,” he said.
Elaborating his stance, the minister said that so long as schools are entitled to free water and electricity “students will not appreciate the true value of such valuable resources.”
The Energy Ministry is willing to help schools cover a part of their water and electricity bills, but (based on past experience) supplying schools with free water and power will have a negative effect on schoolchildren and their training.
When water and electricity are consumed freely and excessively in schools, “it would obviously be difficult to persuade children to use energy wisely,” he noted.
Despite the fact that in the previous fiscal a group of MPs were convinced that the plan’s (free water and power for schools) cost outweighs its benefits, the chamber was unconvinced and legalized free water and power for all schools for the period between March 2020-21.
It is noteworthy that exempting schools from water and power bills is not a law and MPs (based on the Cabinet’s proposal) decide about it every year when the government submits the annual budget bill.
Referring to statistics, the minister went on to say that average global electricity consumption rises by less than 3% per annum. In Iran demand for power jumps to over 6% every year – a pattern that has been causing concern among experts, environmentalists and conservationists long pleading for effective action to help curb consumption and waste.
Official data shows that while global energy consumption increased 27% in the past decade, Iran's overall energy use rose by a whopping 80% in the same period!
Such imprudence and waste has made Iran the 18th largest power consumer in the world.
