Iran ends power cuts to households, says plants are operating normally

Iran’s state-run electricity company Tavanir says there is no more need for imposing power cuts on households in the country amid better access to fuel supplies at power plants.

Tavanir’s CEO Mostafa Rajabi said on Tuesday that the company had decided to end power cuts that it announced earlier this month after receiving reports showing that fuel storage levels at power plants had increased.

“The capacity of the country’s power plants and the electricity networks currently exceeds the demand of the customers,” said Rajabi.

He added that the increased supply of fuel to thermal power plants had led to a 3% increase in fuel storage levels in the plants in recent days.

The official said that Tavanir will have to introduce scheduled power cuts for industries and other sectors if fuel supply to plants decreases again.

Iran’s Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi also said on Tuesday that electricity generation in the country had become stabilized, adding that scheduled power cuts are canceled at least for the time being.

Tavanir ordered scheduled power cuts for households on November 9, saying a cold snap had pushed up demand for natural gas, leaving power plants struggling with low supplies of gasoil.

It said at the time that a decision by the government to ban the use of mazut in power plants was also to blame for the power cuts.

Many power plants in Iran use natural gas as their main feedstock to generate electricity. In fact, the electricity sector is responsible for nearly 250 million cubic meters per day, or a third of the total gas demand in Iran.

However, power plants normally tap their supplies of gasoil and mazut in cold months of the year or when household demand for natural gas hits record highs.

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that gasoil supplies at Iranian power plants had declined by 43% in mid-summer compared to the same period last year because of increased demand for cooling in the country.

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