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Iran’s energy ministry increases electricity bills

Oil&Gas Materials 15 September 2013 10:54 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.15/ Trend F.Karimov/

Iran's energy ministry has increased electricity bills of subscribers from 430 rials (about 0.02 cents) per kilowatt hours to 433 rials, the Mehr News Agency quoted Iran's energy minister Hamid Chitchian as saying.

The ministry has added the sum to electricity bills in order to secure a fund for implementing power supply projects in villages and expand the use of renewable energies, the minister added.

Just 264 rials of the sum will be deposited to the energy ministry's account, and the rest will be used by the administration to pay cash subsidies to people, he said.

The Iranian parliament has approved inking buyback contracts by the energy ministry with contractors for the first time, the Pana News agency reported in July.

The ministry has authorized to conclude buyback contracts for boosting efficiency of power plants, promoting renewable energies, reducing dissipations, saving fuel, and boosting exports.

The ministry is allowed to sign deals up to 120 trillion rials (about $4.8 billion based on the Tehran Forex Center's USD exchange rate of 24,700 rials).

Iran's ex-minister of energy Majid Namjou said last November that according to the Constitution, the generation and distribution sectors of the power industry should be privatised and the transmission sector should remain state-owned.

The power generation capacity in Iran has grown by seven per cent annually during the past 10 years. The figure has averaged 3.5 per cent in the world.

Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. In an effort to diversify its destination markets, Iran plans to export electricity to Europe and Africa.

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