If the wastage was not cut (by 4.1%), the government would have been forced to construct new power stations to generate 2,500 megawatts, costing $5.7 billion. Producing this volume of electricity would demand 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas (as feedstock) for running the new the power plants, IRNA reported.
Discarding old and defective equipment, lines, utility posts, cables and electric meters as well as effectively fighting illegal use (theft) of electricity are among measures taken by utilities to reduce electricity loss.
The Energy Ministry has said it plans to further reduce electricity wastage to less than 10% by 2022, according to Financial Tribune.
This will demand extensive repairs and expansion of transmission lines and building substations costing an estimated $435 million.
According to the ministry, this amount is economically viable because it will help prevent construction of new power plants, which is too costly in the present economic climate.
Despite the 4.1% reduction in wastage, Iran is still among countries in which massive amounts of power is lost and ranks seventh in terms of wastage of electricity in the world.
Losers: Top and Bottom List
Iraq (50.6%), India (19.4), Pakistan (17.4%), Brazil (15.8), Turkey (14.8) and Mexico (13.7%) are the top six losers.
Power wastage in China, the US, France, Italy, England, South Africa and Canada is as low as 5.5%, 5.9%, 6.4%, 6.7%, 8.3%, 8.4% and 8.9% respectively.
If and when wastage in Iran drops under 10% it will have the same ranking as Spain.
Electricity is wasted in the national grid because of ageing and dilapidated infrastructure of the network that is far from what is desired.
Electricity usually comes from large power plants via extensive networks and at times via rugged terrain. Transmission over long distances creates power loss.
There are plans to increase the efficiency of power plants by using modern turbines and upgrading power stations.
According to energy development plans, average efficiency of plants should reach 40% (from the current 37%) by the end of 2022.