Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 1
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian Deputy Energy Minister for Electricity and Energy Affairs Houshang Falahatian said that Iran's electricity is the cheapest compared to the region's other countries.
Iran sells each kilowatt hour of electricity for 2 cents, meanwhile the price in the neighboring countries averagely stands at 10 cents, Falahatian said, the Islamic Republic's Fars news agency reported Nov. 1.
Falahatian made the remarks while commenting on statements saying Iran should import electricity instead of producing it domestically which is not economically justified.
Producing electricity at power plants costs less than 2 cents for the Islamic Republic, he said.
Iran's official SHANA news agency reported Oct. 28 that the country annually burns 65 million liters of liquid fuel in order to produce 260 billion kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity.
Iran totally spends $60 billion each year to produce electricity, both for domestic consumption and exports.
According to the report, Iran can gain two times more revenues from exporting gas than feeding gas to power plants and export electricity. Iran's net power export was above 8 billion KWh last year.
Iraq, Turkey, and Pakistan are the main importers of Iranian electricity.
The Islamic Republic seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments for the construction of three new power plants.
The country's production capacity has surpassed 70,000 megawatt (263 billion KWh).