Tehran (AsiaNews) – A week after launching his gasoline rationing scheme, Iranian President Ahmadinejad announced his desire to do the same for electricity, opposition Iranian webzine Rooz reported quoting a statement made by the president and published in the Etemad Melli newspaper.
“This type of conservation could also be applied to electricity consumption,” Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying. “We have 3 million commercial units and 17 million families, totalling 20 million users. If each turns off a 100 watt lamp during peak power consumption hours of the day, we shall save about 2,000 megawatts of power consumption. This amounts to the power generation of two Bushehr-size nuclear power plants.”
According to the paper, “[w]ith these words, the president implicitly expressed his desire to copy the gasoline rationing scheme for the ministry of energy.”
The president’s remarks follows last week’s statement by Energy Minister Parviz Fattah who warned that if there were unexpected problems and power consumption changed during peak hours, there might be blackouts.
For some observers, Ahmadinejad is trying to prepare the population for the possible consequences of United Nations sanctions against Iran for his nuclear programme.