Schools and Offices in Several Provinces of Iran Announced Closed for the Fourth Day

With the ongoing energy crisis in Iran, schools and offices in a large number of provinces have been announced closed for the fourth consecutive day. All schools in Tehran and 16 other provinces have been declared closed for Wednesday, December 28. The activities of some grades in schools in several other provinces are also non-attendance. All schools, offices, and government institutions in the capital of Iran have also been announced closed for Wednesday. Mohammad Sadegh Mo'tamedian, the governor of Tehran, said on a television program on Tuesday night that all people must participate in 'saving electricity and gas.' Hamid Reza Rastgarpour, the head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, also stated that shopping centers must close by 8 PM, and 'if this issue is not observed, the gas and electricity of these centers will be cut off.' Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the National Gas Company of Iran announced a new record in gas consumption in the country. Hassan Mousavi said that on Monday, December 26, out of a total of 858 million cubic meters of sweet gas injected into the national pipeline, 671 million cubic meters were consumed in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, marking a new record for this year. The shortage of gas and electricity in recent weeks has created widespread problems for citizens in Iran. Many highways and streets in Iranian cities have experienced blackouts, and according to Hadi Abadi, the head of the Mazandaran Road Police, a 24-hour power outage on the Haraz Road has 'caused problems for services.' Over the past week, electricity in industrial towns in Tehran and some other cities has been cut off, leading to widespread criticism; however, according to Heshmatollah Asgari, the deputy for economic coordination of the Tehran governorate, electricity in the industrial towns of this province will be limitedly restored from today (Wednesday, December 28). The head of the Production Management Department of the Thermal Power Generation Company reported the exit of 8,500 megawatts of power generation capacity from the grid due to lack of fuel. According to Nasser Eskandari, power plants are trying to compensate for part of this shortage with liquid fuel, but the power plant reservoirs are not completely full. Although the problem of gas supply in winter has been a recurring issue in previous years, statements from government officials indicate that executive bodies did not correctly predict the gas consumption this year. Saeed Tavakoli, the Deputy Minister of Oil, stated that the approved plan for this year for gas delivery to the network was 845 million cubic meters. Meanwhile, this official announced that the gas consumption of the network since the beginning of this year has been 855 million cubic meters. The recent gas shortage has also intensified restrictions on electricity distribution to industries. The deputy for distribution coordination at Tavanir stated that due to fuel supply limitations for power plants, a load management program has been issued and implemented. Mohsen Zabihih said that the liquid fuel reserves of the power plants in the northern strip of the country have reached a concerning level, and small and medium-sized industries are required to reduce their consumption load by 50% from 6 AM to 5 PM. According to him, from 5 PM to midnight, when minimal load management is applied in other sectors, industries are allowed to consume a maximum of 10%, which is mainly for maintenance and security sections and consumers that must remain operational. The National Polymer Industries Association has also reported that electricity in the production units of the Shamsabad industrial town is scheduled to be cut off two days a week, and in addition, since December 24, electricity in the units has been cut daily at 3:30 PM without any announcement of when it will be restored. Concurrently with the shortage of electricity and gas, air pollution continues in Tehran and other metropolitan areas. The air quality in the capital on the morning of Wednesday, December 28, was at a 'red status' with an index of 152, which is unhealthy for all groups of society. According to data from air quality monitoring stations, only one point in Tehran is in an acceptable condition. The air pollution situation in Tehran on Tuesday, December 27, also led to an emergency air pollution meeting at the Tehran governorate. The Tehran Meteorological Organization has predicted local fog, accumulation of atmospheric pollutants, and reduced air quality in heavily trafficked urban areas in the coming days, announcing that air pollution will continue until Saturday.