Iran rolls out weekly household electricity rationing, causing widespread disruptions

Iran's electricity authority has begun enforcing a weekly load‑shedding program for residential customers. In Isfahan, consumers will face four two‑hour outages per week, scheduled between 10 am‑6 pm, with peak network loads identified between 12‑5 pm and 7‑11 pm. The province hopes to curb demand that has risen to 5,117 MW, with 4,416 MW generated locally and the remainder imported via the national grid. Incentives include free electricity for cooperating farmers during the summer months and a 30 % discount for households that reduce consumption by 20 % compared with the same period last year.

Similar rationing has been officially introduced in several other provinces, including Tehran, Alborz and Khorasan Razavi. Residents report that cuts often exceed the announced hours, leading to loss of water supply, stopped elevators, spoiled food, disrupted banking services and non‑functional GPS and traffic‑management apps. Industry officials warn that electricity interruptions could cost the sector between 303 trillion and 473 trillion Iranian tomans annually, with potential rises in unemployment. Officials attribute the crisis to soaring summer temperatures, drought, lingering war damage and a generation gap; the national plan aims to increase installed capacity from about 93 GW to over 124 GW by adding roughly 31 GW of new, including renewable, capacity each year.