Iran Halts Electricity Exports to Turkey Due to $200 Million Debt

Iran has stated that the reason for halting its electricity exports to Turkey is a $200 million debt owed by a Turkish company. Houshang Falahatian, Deputy Minister of Energy, said in an interview with Mehr News Agency on Friday, November 5, that Iran stopped exporting electricity to Turkey several months ago. He noted that the main reason for this halt was the non-payment of overdue debts by the Turkish electricity purchasing company. The Deputy Minister indicated that the Turkish company's debt to Iran is approximately $200 million and that discussions have begun to recover overdue payments and resume electricity exports to this neighboring country. He emphasized that it is expected that within the next 4 to 5 months, the possibility of recovering Iran's electricity debt from the Turkish company will be available, and if assurances regarding debt payments are secured, there is a possibility of resuming electricity sales to this purchasing company. Falahatian's remarks about resuming electricity exports to Turkey come at a time when Turkey has nearly stopped importing electricity from Iran since the beginning of the current solar year and has opened two new power plants in border areas with Iran. According to official Turkish statistics, from January to June of this year, Turkey imported just over half a billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Iran, with almost all of this amount related to imports until March (the first month of the current solar year). According to official statistics from Iran's Ministry of Energy, last solar year, Iran exported more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, of which approximately 18% (1.8 billion kilowatt-hours) went to Turkey. Statistics from the Ministry of Energy show that Iran's electricity exports have decreased by 26% in the first seven months of the current solar year, reaching 4.6 billion kilowatt-hours. Meanwhile, Iran's electricity imports during the same period increased by 9% to 2.7 billion kilowatt-hours. Falahatian's statements regarding Turkey's debt come at a time when he announced on Wednesday that Iraq's debt to Iran for electricity imports has reached about $1 billion, but despite installment payments, the payment of these installments has also been delayed. Nevertheless, he stated that Iran continues to export electricity to Iraq, which received 69% of Iran's total electricity exports last year.