Ahead of fall and winter, and with severe gas shortages at electricity power plants, the deputy minister of energy asked the private sector to take action for importing electricity from neighboring countries.

Mojtaba Rezaei Mashhadi, without referring to the significant difference between the price of domestic electricity and imported electricity, said that coordination for electricity imports from the northern countries of Iran has been carried out, and that contracts have been signed with Turkmenistan and Armenia to supply electricity.

It is not precisely clear what new coordination or contract the Islamic Republic has had with Turkmenistan and Armenia, but for several decades Iran has been importing electricity from these two countries and exporting electricity to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Energy, for the first time last year Iran became a net importer of electricity; so that electricity imports exceeded electricity exports by about 2 terawatt-hours.

Rezaei Mashhadi said that, according to the coordination, the private sector can import between 620 and 650 megawatts (about 4 terawatt-hours) of electricity from Turkmenistan and Armenia.