Cities in Darkness, but What is the Reality?
Cities in darkness, but what is the reality? Reports from domestic media about the start of power cuts across Iran to avoid burning mazut in power plants, followed by confirmation from Tavanir Company, have sparked widespread and mostly negative reactions on social networks. While Tavanir announced yesterday that due to increased gas consumption in the household sector and limited gas fuel supply to power plants, scheduled blackouts will begin, the company’s CEO officially announced on Sunday, November 20, that these blackouts would start from tomorrow, Monday.
Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi described this action as a power consumption management plan and stated that power outages would be implemented uniformly across the country from 9 AM to 5 PM. He explained that each subscriber would face a daily two-hour power consumption limitation, and in Tehran, the blackout schedule would be communicated to citizens via text message. Reactions to the news of power cuts to avoid burning mazut in power plants, which began with the announcement by the government spokesperson and the executive vice president, intensified from Saturday.
Hamidreza Haji Babaei, Deputy Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, responded to several parliament members’ warnings in an open session on Sunday, stating that there are ambiguities regarding the government’s action.
He called for an explanation from the government on this matter.
Amir Hossein Sabati, a parliament member supporting Saeed Jalili in the recent elections, attributed the electricity shortage problem to the nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA on the X network and wrote, ‘It is a bitter reality that today we could have avoided power imbalance and blackouts if the country had not been run in a Qajar-style in the 1990s.’
This post has received reactions, including from Sadegh Hosseini, an economist close to reformists, who responded that the limitations of nuclear infrastructure have nothing to do with nuclear power production.
Davood Mansour, head of the Planning and Budget Organization in Ebrahim Raisi’s government, also posted on the X network, sharing a chart of diesel reserves over the past five years, sarcastically suggesting that a successful alternative and experienced solution for scheduled blackouts could have been sufficient liquid fuel storage for power plants. Meanwhile, the CEO of Tavanir also announced on Sunday that more than 85% of the liquid fuel consumed by power plants is diesel and claimed that only 15% of the liquid fuel used in power plants is mazut.
He admitted that in the current situation, in addition to gas, there is a limitation on diesel consumption in power plants. However, even reformists and supporters of Masoud Pezeshkian’s government have criticized this action, including Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who wrote on the X network that if the reason for power outages in winter and cold seasons is due to stopping mazut burning, it is certainly a banana peel placed under Pezeshkian and his government’s feet at the start of their work.
He did not explain who might have done such a thing.
Mohammad Sahafi, another reformist figure and a former official of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, also called the decision to cut power a destructive action that is being carried out in the emergency conditions at the beginning of the government.
One of the few supporters of this plan is Mohammad Fazeli, a sociologist and advisor to Masoud Pezeshkian during the electoral campaigns.
He wrote on the X network that if the government refrains from burning mazut and sticks to limited blackouts and explaining to the people, it has done three important things: 1) prioritized health, 2) not hidden the imbalance under the carpet, and 3) endured social pressure to solve the issue the right way.
This is while, according to government officials, Mr. Pezeshkian has only ordered the cessation of mazut burning in three power plants.
Mohammad Aghazadeh, an experienced journalist, also referred to the headline of the Sunday edition of the newspaper Etemad, which wrote, ‘The sky becomes bluer,’ addressing Elias Hazrati, the owner of the newspaper, saying, ‘Yes, Mr. Hazrati, in the dark and the same blackout, the blue sky can be seen more, but in the shivering cold, is there any energy left to watch the sky?’
Mr. Hazrati has been appointed as the head of the government’s Information Council a few weeks ago.
Some citizens, journalists, and critics of the Islamic Republic have also reminded that the country’s management situation has reached a point where people either have to endure blackouts or bear the pollution caused by burning mazut.
Pezhman Mousavi, a journalist, criticized that the government, after losing opportunities to build green and renewable power plants, now has to impose on us that because we have banned mazut burning in some power plants, you also have to endure power outages. You have attached a planned phrase to it to make your decisions look very chic.
Some social media users have also reported that following Tavanir’s announcement yesterday to visit the electricity distribution company’s website, the servers of this website have crashed. According to the IT Iran news and analysis site, the announced services to view the blackout schedules have failed, and for many citizens, the blackout notification text messages have not been sent.
Bahman Darolshafaie, a journalist and translator, wrote in this regard that not only do we not have the supply to provide electricity, but we also do not have the capability to initiate a sustainable way to inform the public of the blackout schedule, which we have imposed on the people. Reza Rashidpour, a former television host and supporter of Masoud Pezeshkian’s government, also shared an image of the headline from the Islamic Republic News Agency on December 8, 2023, quoting the director-general of the thermal power production planning office, who wrote that the burning of mazut in power plants in Tehran is strongly denied, stating that power cuts certainly deserve criticism, but, pardon me, aren’t you the same people who denied mazut burning?
Elmira Sharifi, a television host and presenter, also wrote on the X network that it would be better for officials to provide more explanation about the benefits of stopping mazut burning. How long will the power outages continue? If mazut burning continues in some power plants, we will have no problem with electricity distribution. In Iran, for years, warnings have been issued about the effects of mazut burning as a silent killer on citizens, but no official research has been published on this matter.
However, over the years, some institutions have completely denied the widespread use of mazut in Iran, while others have claimed that mazut burning occurs outside cities or that no mazut is burned around any major city.
Mazut is a type of fuel oil with low quality and high viscosity, used in thermal power plants and similar applications. Viscosity or thickness refers to the resistance of liquids to flow.