Iran’s president appeals to people to help resolve energy crisis

In a public appeal, the Iranian president urged citizens to conserve energy, emphasizing their role in mitigating the country’s ongoing energy shortage, a crisis that has intensified in recent months.

Speaking after a closed-door meeting between the government and members of the parliament, Masoud Pezeshkian told lawmakers, “Our need for you to continue on this path is far greater than what has been done so far,” emphasizing that overcoming the shortages in the energy sector required both government and popular cooperation.

The call comes as Iran grapples with widespread power outages, rising fuel prices, and a looming fiscal crisis.

While Pezeshkian stopped short of directly referencing potential increases in fuel prices, his remarks suggest an acknowledgment of the urgency of the situation.

The government’s longstanding narrative, which places the blame for the energy crisis on the people’s excessive consumption, has increasingly fallen flat in the face of growing public frustration.

Calls for citizens to conserve energy have become a familiar refrain, but many Iranians are growing skeptical of these appeals, seeing them as an excuse for government inaction rather than a solution.

In September, Hassanali Taghizadeh, chairman of the Iran Electrical Industry Syndicate, dismissed claims of excessively high domestic electricity consumption, saying that Iranian households use roughly half the electricity per capita compared to European households.

"Don't blame the people. Don't falsely claim that people's consumption is high. The average per capita consumption of Iranians is 1,220 kilowatt-hours per year, while in Europe it is 2,120 kilowatt-hours," he said. According to Eurostat, the electricity consumption per capita in the household sector in the EU in 2022 was 1,584 kWh,” he said.

In his speech, Pezeshkian addressed the escalating energy shortages, claiming that they could only be corrected with the collaboration of both parliament and the people.

His rhetoric, however, appeared detached from the reality of the situation, as citizens continue to face power outages, unreliable energy supplies, and skyrocketing living costs.

The energy crisis is compounded by a widening fiscal gap, with the next year’s national budget projected to have a deficit exceeding $30 billion, or more than 30% of total expenditures.

While Pezeshkian briefly addressed the fiscal challenges in his remarks, much of the meeting appeared to be consumed by speeches and vague declarations, rather than solutions.

The government's repeated calls for the people’s help seem more like an attempt to deflect responsibility than an invitation for meaningful dialogue on energy policy reform. Other officials and commentators have argued that Iran has failed to make the necessary investments in oil, natural gas and electricity production and upkeep of the grid.

The potential increase in fuel prices, which has sparked considerable controversy in parliament, was also a central topic of discussion. Some lawmakers expressed strong opposition to the proposed hikes, warning that they could ignite political unrest, much like the 2019 protests that followed a sudden increase in fuel prices.

Adding to the skepticism surrounding Pezeshkian’s remarks, the government’s claim that Iran spends billions annually on fuel imports has been called into question.

Pezeshkian said that the country imports $5 billion worth of fuel each year, but state-run news outlets, including the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, disputed this figure, saying that only $2 billion worth of fuel was imported in the past year.

Meanwhile, the country’s chronic problem of fuel smuggling continues to undermine the government’s narrative.

Economist Mousa Ghaninejad recently said that an estimated 50 million liters of gasoline are being illegally exported from Iran every day—far more than previous estimates of 20 million liters. Ghaninejad’s figures point to a much larger and more organized network of smuggling, suggesting that the problem is not confined to small-scale operators along the borders, as the government has often said.

As Iran heads into the new year with a deepening energy crisis and growing political tensions, the question remains whether the government can move beyond speeches to implement meaningful reforms.