To help avoid power outages in summer, Tehran Province Electricity Distribution Company is renovating the power grid, the managing director said.
Hossein Sabouri said $3 million is spent per annum for rehabilitating Tehran's electricity network, which is a routine annual job, ISNA reported.
The money is spent on improving distribution systems and developing infrastructure “because old and dilapidated equipment add to power wastage.”
Discarding malfunctioning equipment, supply lines, utility poles, cables and electric meters are among measures taken to help reduce electricity loss.
Tehran was hit by 42 hours of power cuts last summer within two weeks. Regarding the possibility of power shortages next summer, Sabouri said, “Our intention is to avoid all outages. There are programs to help encourage households and industries to use power judiciously.”
The city has 4.5 million subscribers, 76% of which are households. “The good news is that 80% of the homes are at or near average consumption of 300 kilowatt hour per month,” he added.
Changing working hours in state organizations during peak electricity demand in summer is one of the programs that helped reduce consumption last year and will be implemented again.
In the hot season in 2018 working hours began at 6:30 a.m. instead of 7:30 and ended an hour earlier at 2:30 p.m. The initiative helped reduce consumption by 250 MW.
Higher and more than average rainfall since the beginning of fall will also help hydroelectric power plants to improve output, Sabouri was quoted as saying.
