Several provinces closed and “severe atmospheric conditions” declared; new record for Iran’s electricity consumption

The CEO of Iran’s Electricity Production, Transmission and Distribution Management Company said, “On the second day of August, the country’s electricity demand changed again, setting a record in the country’s electricity industry history, reaching 78,106 megawatts,” which surpassed Iran’s electricity consumption record. He was surprised.

“This may be due to the installation of heat domes in the country and the indiscriminate and unprincipled consumption of cooling units,” Mustafa Rajabi Mashhadi said of the country’s new record of “increased electricity consumption,” according to the Imna news agency.

He added that the country’s previous record for electricity demand “was 77,514 megawatts, set on July 20.”

The power industry expert said when comparing electricity consumption with last year, the peak summer electricity consumption last year broke “August 15, 1402, with a demand of 73,467 megawatts”. After registering this new installation, “five more consumption records were broken one after another in a very short period of time”.

Despite numerous reports of the Islamic Republic’s inefficiency in supplying electricity to industrial and domestic areas and offices, the simplest solution for some provincial authorities to deal with the unprecedented heat wave was to close “offices” from the third Wednesday of July until the weekend.

The provinces of East Azerbaijan, Golestan, Kermanshah, Sistan-Baluchestan and Tehran have restricted working hours of “administrative departments and banks” through official notifications to “save electricity consumption” by declaring weather conditions “critical”.

The Meteorological Organization announced that from Wednesday, July 3, until the next five days, temperatures will gradually rise in most parts of the country, with the exception of the Caspian coastal provinces, especially in “central regions and the southern slopes of the central and eastern Alborz Mountains.”

While Tehran will see temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius in the coming days, Ahvaz is expected to be the hottest centre among the provinces, “with a maximum temperature of 48 degrees Celsius”.