Plans have been made to reduce electricity wastage in Tehran from the current rate of 7.1% to about 6.5% by the yearend, managing director of Tehran Electricity Distribution Company said.
"By taking proper measures, we curbed power wastage by more than 2% in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2015), to reach 7.1% from 9.3%," Mohammad Hashemi was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Rate of electricity wastage in distribution networks nationwide is also high. In September, Houshang Falahatian, deputy energy minister, announced energy wastage was curbed by more than 3% nationwide last year, reaching 11.3% from nearly 15%.
Officials say reaching the optimum wastage rate of 8% will save $3.3 billion in costs, with plans calling for reducing wastage to below 10% by March 2016.
Hashemi attached special significance to expanding renewable energy sources and said by developing renewables, the country will not face a power deficit during peak demand.
"Given the sharp rise in electricity consumption, Iran is predicted to not meet the power generation target in the near future mainly due to technical shortcomings," Managing Director of Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company Arash Kordi said on Saturday.
The Energy Ministry on Friday said domestic electricity consumption in summer had a 2.7% jump compared with the same period of last year.
"According to estimates, electricity consumption is predicted to witness a 7% rise next year," he said, adding that electricity consumption crossed a record high of 47,000 megawatts to reach 47,344 MW in summer.
Energy consumption in Iran is worrying and if the current trend continues, the total amount of energy generated in the country will have to be used domestically by 2025.
Iran’s electricity industry ranks 14th in the world and first in the Middle East in terms of electricity generation with an installed power generation capacity of 74,000 MW.
