آیدین پناهی, an energy expert and one of the authors of Iran’s Flourishing Project, referring to remarks by Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of the Islamic Republic, about the link between increasing wages and citizens’ saving on energy consumption, said: “This approach is more than an economic policy; it is the transfer of responsibility. The government wants to put the cost of the crisis it has created onto the public’s energy consumption.

“By pointing to the low efficiency of power plants, losses in the electricity grid, and years of underinvestment in infrastructure, he said that reducing household gas consumption could help supply energy to power plants and preserve industrial output, but it does not directly provide the resources to pay wages.

“Referring to gas shortages and the simultaneous needs of power plants, industries, and emergency generators for liquid fuel, Parsa said the Ministry of Energy should clarify how much reliable electricity, for how many hours, and with what guaranteed fuel is available.”