Iran's water and wastewater sector consumes 2% of the country's total electricity output, according to the Iran Energy Efficiency Organization known as SABA.
"Domestic energy consumption is around 270,000 kilowatt-hours, which reaches 50,000 megawatts in summer," said Amir Doudabinejad, SABA's director for education and energy efficiency.
SABA is in charge of lowering Iran's energy consumption by introducing measures to boost efficiency. It also tries to instill policies that would improve public and private consumption patterns.
The government needs to curb energy consumption. Industrial machinery is mostly dilapidated and need to be swapped with more energy efficient ones. Even public consumption trends should change to cut wastage.
Iran consumed 2,873 tons of oil equivalent per capita in 2012, roughly the same as Italy with an economy over four times its size, according to World Bank estimates. Also due to huge energy subsidies, Iran is one of the most energy inefficient countries, with the energy intensity three times higher than global average and 2.5 times the Middle Eastern average.
The onus, however, falls on the government as it is the dominant consumer of energy in Iran—from government offices in Tehran to refineries and power stations in the Persian Gulf.
According to Deputy Oil Minister Mansour Azimi, the roads, energy, industries and agricultural ministries, along with the petrochemical sector, are the top Iranian energy consumers.
