Widespread blackouts have returned to Iranian homes and public facilities, days after the war with Israel ended, exposing the fragility of the country’s power infrastructure, which had briefly held up while much of the country was shut down.
Officials now cite rising demand and long-standing shortfalls in generation capacity as the cause.
The grid is unable to meet current consumption levels, prompting scheduled two-hour power outages daily, Iran's state electricity company chief, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said. “The demand exceeds production,” he said, adding that outages would decrease only if energy use fell.
“The shortages will ease whenever the energy crisis is reduced to a minimum,” he said, a vague promise that has done little to calm public anger.
Iranian citizens have begun circulating videos of renewed blackouts in cities like Ahvaz, where summer temperatures regularly exceed 50°C.
“After the war ended, the Islamic Republic went back to factory settings,” one resident said in a video sent to Iran International.
Electricity generators, once confined to bakeries, were now being used by most businesses, driving up noise and pollution, he added.
Subsidy system overhaul planned
In parallel, Mohammad Bahrami Seifabadi, a lawmaker on the parliamentary energy committee, unveiled a new two-tier pricing scheme for power and gas.
“Each person will have a fixed energy quota and pay full cost beyond that,” he said, framing it as a replacement for Iran’s current subsidies system.
“Instead of subsidizing consumption, energy support will go to each national ID and individual,” Bahrami added.
Temporary stability during war
Power outages had temporarily eased during the recent 12-day confrontation with Israel, with many workplaces shut. Officials implied the grid had improved, but analysts say the drop in usage, not any reform, was responsible.
“Power cuts during the war were because everything was closed, but the government claimed the credit,” said Reza Gheibi, an Iran International journalist. “Now the deficiencies are back in the open.”
Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi promised earlier this week that nighttime blackouts would be minimized. “If necessary, disruptions will occur more during the day,” he said in early June.
Successive Iranian summers have seen repeated electricity shortages, often described by officials as “imbalances” between supply and demand.
Energy experts attribute the crisis to underinvestment, dilapidated infrastructure, and a chronic failure to expand power generation, which is estimated to lag by roughly 14,000 megawatts.
A resident of Ahvaz said the latest outages have been especially punishing: “It feels like they are making us pay for the war with Israel.”
