Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
An Iranian deputy energy minister has denied that the country plans to increase the prices of electricity.
"So far no remarks have been made on increasing the prices of power and no decision on this issue has been made. Therefore, we should clearly announce that the prices of power will not increase," the deputy energy minister, Homayoun Haeri, was quoted as saying by Iranian media outlets on Tuesday.
He added that the country over the last fiscal year (starting Mach 20) consumed 55,443 megawatt of power, which indicates an increase of five percent compared to the same period of time last year.
According to the official, Iran annually adds about 3,000-4,000 megawatts (MW) to the power generation capacity.
Iran's power plants generated over 261.91 TWh (terawatt hours) of electricity between March 2017 and Jan 2018, indicating a growth of seven percent year on year.
The nominal electric generation capacity has already increased by 1,904 MW to 78,332 MW in Iran since the beginning of the current fiscal year.
Under its sixth development plan, the country needs to increase its nominal electric generation capacity to 100,000 MW by 2021.