ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Residents across the Kurdistan Region are facing severe electricity shortages after a suspected drone attack forced the shutdown of the Khor Mor gas field on Sunday night, prompting authorities to reactivate private generators to compensate for the loss of public power supplies.
The field, located in Sulaimani province’s Chamchamal district, supplies much of the natural gas used to generate electricity across the Region. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) warned that the shutdown would reduce electricity generation capacity by 2,800 megawatts.
In Sulaimani, Sheikh Anwar Hama Saeed, director of the province’s electricity department, told Rudaw’s Solin Hamadamin on Tuesday that gas-fired power stations had stopped operating.
“All the power stations that run on gas have shut down,” he said, adding that residents had received fewer than five hours of public electricity over the previous 24 hours.
Authorities subsequently reached an agreement with private generator owners to restore supplies following disagreements over operating hours and payments.
“Generator owners demanded a pre-payment for 100 hours of electricity, and we did not agree,” Fazil Omar, director of the Sulaimani district administration, told Rudaw.
“Generator charges are determined according to diesel prices,” he added. “We expect the electricity problem to be resolved soon.”
In Erbil, a provincial source said only 190 megawatts were available on Monday, with electricity prioritized for essential services and public facilities.
Khoran Khorani, head of Erbil’s private generators council, said operators had agreed to supply electricity during public power outages between 7 am and 9 am and from 1 pm until 1 am. He warned that those failing to comply would face legal action.
In Duhok, district commissioner Brindar Haidar said residents received between five and seven hours of public electricity on Monday.
“The generators covered all the remaining hours,” he told Rudaw.
Halabja received just three hours of public electricity, with some private generators yet to resume operating.
Dana Gas, which operates Khor Mor, said the fire caused by the suspected drone attack had been extinguished without casualties, but production remained suspended pending a damage assessment.
The disruption is a major setback for the KRG’s Runaki initiative, which aims to provide round-the-clock public electricity and phase out private neighborhood generators by the end of 2026.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has ordered a joint investigation into the attack, which no group has claimed.
