"I apologize to all the people who have suffered from this [electricity shortage] over the past days, and I ask for your cooperation in helping us in facing this problem," President Hassan Rouhani said at the inauguration of 62 development and infrastructure projects on Tuesday.
Iran has suffered from electricity outages over the past few days. The country’s energy ministry on Sunday warned of possible blackouts between the fifth and eighth of this month, calling on people to reduce consumption, especially between 12 pm to 6 pm to prevent power outages.
The apology came two days after videos circulating on social media showed people chanting against the government and the supreme leader of Iran during the Sunday blackout saying, “Death to the dictator, death to Khamenei.”
The Iranian speaker of parliament also expressed concern over the power outages on Monday.
“Frequent power outages across the country and disruption of people's lives and businesses require planning and management,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf tweeted on Monday morning. “People are upset with this lack of planning.”
“We experienced an unprecedented drought this year. It has rained 52% less than last year," Rouhani said, adding the energy minister told him that Iran's 7,000 MW of hydroelectricity was almost completely shut down because there was not enough water in the dams to power the turbines.
The president pointed out that there are various causes for the outages, such as the temporary shutdown of Bushehr, the country's only nuclear power plant.
The power station went back online on Saturday after Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced a technical fault had temporarily shut down the plant in June.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Bushehr plant unit one provided 1.89 percent of Iran's electricity in 2019.
Rouhani explained that there were other causes of electricity outages, such as growing industrial production in the country which uses electricity, and cryptocurrency mining.
In late May, Rouhani banned bitcoin mining after officials blamed the energy-consuming process for daily power outages in the country. However, illegal mining of the cryptocurrency continues in the country.
The Iranian president suggested that one solution is to change the hours for certain industries slightly.
"Some industries that normally have a holiday season for their employees in September may have to leave earlier this year," Rouhani explained.
The ministry should also inform the public of the exact hours when the electricity will be cut, so they can plan accordingly, he added.
Iran’s Energy Ministry officials announced on Tuesday that the electricity consumption on Monday hit an all-time high of 66,250 MW, exceeding Sunday's consumption of 65,900 MW, despite the ministry's pleas to reduce consumption.
As a result of the reduction of water resources, the production of power plants is not sufficient to meet consumption needs despite the efforts of industry, farmers, and all subscribers of load management programs, the Ministry stated.
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