The Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) has no plans to restrict power supply to pharmaceutical firms, spokesman of the state-run firm said.
“Tavanir has prioritized pharmaceutical sector, as any disruptions in the industry will lead to medicine shortage and death of millions,” Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi was also quoted as saying by Barq News.
Due to the limited electricity generation capacity, all major industries are likely to suffer from outages, with the exception of medicine producing factories, he added.
“Tavanir’s maximum power generation capacity is 65 gigawatts, yet demand is far beyond that. Hence, the deficit had to be compensated by imposing restrictions on industries and power outages that have affected industrial and household sectors,” he said.
“Although all drug manufacturing plants must be equipped with backup power supply systems, Tavanir will make sure their power supply is steady during peak demand hours over the next two months.”
The Energy Ministry is aware of the fact that frequent power outages will adversely impact industrial units, especially cement and steel factories, but it will do its best to curb power cuts as much as possible.
Power outage in small industrial units caused up to $900 in losses per day last summer, according to Abbas Jabalbarezi, the deputy head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture’s Industries Commission.
“A small industrial unit with 50 workers lose 150 hours of work during a three-hour power outage,” he added.
As per the business environment law, an industrial unit must not be prioritized for power outage and if this happens, the government must compensate their losses.
With the onset of summer and rising power consumption in the capital, sporadic power cuts have started in some of the Iranian provinces.
Customers are likely to experience load shedding when a utility lowers or stops electricity distribution across an area for a short period, which is commonly referred to as a rolling blackout.
Iran is home to more than 100 pharmaceutical firms, most of which produce generic or biosimilar drugs, while a large number of knowledge-based companies have also been established in recent years.
Iran’s pharmaceutical industry has been one of the country’s most prosperous sectors over the past years. The sector, accounting for 3.18% of Tehran Stock Exchange’s overall value, is considered one of the most important groups in the 37 industries active in TSE.
