Figures released on Monday by Iran’s Oil Ministry news service Shana showed that on May 4, domestic power plants received 259 million cubic meters (MCM) of natural gas.
Shana said that while gas supply to large Iranian manufacturers was over 172 MCM, households and businesses received more than 213 MCM of gas on the same day.
Record supply has resulted in a massive increase in household and business demand amid a sudden heat wave as Iranian power plants are exposed to recent tensions.
The state’s utility Tavanir said that electricity usage in Iran peaked at 58.7 gigawatts (GW) on May 1 over the weekend, an increase of 9 GW from the same day in 2024.
Industry figures show that Iranian power plants consume around 79 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas per year. This is almost a third of the country’s annual gas production.
The same data shows that the share of gas in Iran’s electricity generation has increased from 35% in 1985 to 86% in 2022.
This is because global natural gas power plants demand rose from 14% to 23% over the same period.
While Iran has been forced to introduce short blackouts in cities and towns, it has been restricting its power supply to large manufacturers in recent years to help it meet the ever-increasing demand for electricity.
MNA/