ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq remains unable to meet its electricity demand despite increasing power production, officials said at a conference in Baghdad on Wednesday, citing mismanagement, reliance on Iranian gas, and delays in infrastructure development as key challenges. "The [electricity] ministry is partially to be blamed for the failure of the electricity sector in the country," Mohammed Abdalraba, head of the Iraqi parliament’s electricity and energy committee, said during a panel at the Iraq Development Platform conference in Baghdad. Despite its vast oil and gas reserves, Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortages. In July, Ahmed Musa, the spokesperson for the Iraqi electricity ministry, told Rudaw that the Iraqi power system produces 27,450 megawatts of electricity, meanwhile, the required load is 48,000 megawatts. “Work in the electricity sector is very slow,” Abdalraba said. He added that "there is waste in the electricity consumption process, which the ministry and citizens are a part of." Abdalraba said the electricity ministry “has not yet done its duty regarding the issue of [fee] collection, smart meters, or controlling electricity consumption. As a result, citizens consume as much electricity as they want because they do not pay the bills." In October, Musa told Rudaw that power generation had dropped by 25 percent due to reduced gas imports from Iran and renovations of power stations ahead of winter. "With every failure in the electricity supply, we say that the reason is Iranian gas, which is a big mistake, as we should not rely on a single source," Abdalraba said. For years, Iraq’s electrical grid has depended on gas imports from Iran to run its power plants. The country lost nearly 5,000 megawatts of power in July 2023 due to Iran completely halting the supply of gas to the southern regions of Iraq, as well as decreasing exports to Baghdad and other central provinces. “There is a platform in the form of a global market for selling gas, so it would have been better if we had a platform since 2008 to address the electricity shortage,” he argued. Abdulhamza Hadi, an advisor to Iraq’s electricity ministry, said the ministry is working with Gulf countries, Jordan, and Turkey to boost power supply. He said that "the Turkish and Jordanian lines have entered into operation, but the capacities are limited." The Turkish lines have a capacity of 300 to 400 megawatts, while the Jordanian lines provide around 100 to 150 megawatts, he detailed. Hadi added that Iraq plans to begin operating power lines from Gulf countries by the end of 2025, with an initial capacity of 500 to 600 megawatts, expected to rise to 1,000 megawatts. Deputy Electricity Minister Adil Karim said Iraq has 74 power stations, including eight thermal stations, 40 gas stations, 18 diesel stations, and eight electrical stations. "The population of Iraq is now 45 million people, and the ministry has achieved 27,750 megawatts of electricity production,” he said. Despite this, he said the supply “does not meet the citizen's needs for several reasons," citing a "very large increase in the individual's share of electrical [consumption].
