Reports in Iranian media and social media indicate widespread power outages in Tehran, and schools, banks and offices in several provinces, including Tehran, were closed on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Energy attributed the widespread outages to a “shortage of fuel for power plants” and urged people to save energy.
On Tuesday evening, the Tavnir company issued a statement stating that due to the cold weather, increased domestic gas consumption, and restrictions on the supply and transfer of gas to power plants, the power was cut and that “cooperation from the Iranians” was needed for the country to have the electricity it needs.
As of this writing, at least 14 provinces in the country were closed on Wednesday. In an interview with Iranian television, the deputy governor of Tehran said that various educational and administrative institutions in the capital would be closed in order to “manage energy consumption.”
On the other hand, some reports indicate that due to the power outage, in addition to communication towers, traffic lights also failed, and there was heavy traffic on some streets.
Widespread power outages, including in the country’s capital, are caused by a fuel shortage, while statistics from the commodity information company “Kepler,” provided to Radio Farda, indicate widespread fuel exports from Iran.
The ISNA news agency writes that power outages occurred in eastern and western Tehran, but monitoring by the “Roydad24” website indicates that large areas in eastern, central, southern and western Tehran were in darkness on Tuesday evening until 8:00 p.m.
Since the beginning of the fall, the government of Massoud Fazkian has claimed that fuel reserves for power plants have dwindled, forcing widespread and deliberate power outages in the country.
In the fall and early winter of this year, Iran exported about 300,000 barrels (26,000 tons) of liquefied gas and more than 200,000 barrels of diesel fuel per day.