Iran Energy Minister Reports Power Demand Below Forecast and Higher Electricity Supply to Industry

Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said on Saturday, November 7, 2026 (16 Aban 1405), on the sidelines of the opening of Iran's international electricity industry exhibition, that national power demand, forecast to reach about 88,000 MW, is now below 75,000 MW. He credited consumption management, and said electricity supplied to industry as a whole is more than 3% higher than last year and to petrochemical plants more than 11% higher; some night-time curbs on industry have also been lifted because of insufficient uptake.

The minister called the power industry's main challenge economic and said the ministry owes more than 110,000 billion tomans to various parties including contractors, while its legal receivables from consumers are of similar size. He said talks on foreign investment have been held with Russia, Belarus and regional countries and that, of about 3 billion dollars of planned investment with Belarus, about 1 billion dollars has been done. On gas, he said part of the infrastructure was damaged in the war and that the country already ran a gas deficit before it. These figures are the minister's statements in Mehr's report.