Why did Iran experience a harsh winter?

According to Energy Press, Yashar Soltani wrote in a note: These days, news of office closures, schools and universities being closed in person has become an everyday occurrence. Since the beginning of last week, when air pollution and a cold wave swept through the country and widespread shutdowns began in the country, everyone realized that there was a problem with the country’s fuel supply. In the meantime, power outages have once again become a guest in Iranians’ lives, and many businesses have been damaged. Now, every Iranian, after searching for the air quality index, school and office closures, and bank closures in the early morning, must also search for the power outage schedule for his city and province in order to be able to make decisions for the rest of the day. But the question is, why has an energy giant like Iran reached a point where it cuts off electricity to its citizens every day and disrupts the country’s production cycle?
Why did the power outages occur in winter? In the summer, given the widespread use of electric cooling devices and considering Iran’s climate, it can be accepted that the mostly worn-out Iranian power plants will have problems supplying electricity. But what is the story of the power outages in winter? Electricity in Iran is supplied to all citizens and industries through 146 power plants built in various parts of Iran. The important issue in supplying electricity is power plant fuel. What source of energy do these power plants get their energy from? As can be predicted, 90 percent of Iran’s power plants are supplied with gas fuel, and this strategy is natural for a country that has the second largest gas reserves in the world. 10 percent of Iran’s power plant fuel is also supplied with liquid fuel, which includes diesel and fuel oil. In total, only 14 Iranian power plants have the capacity to consume fuel oil, and 132 other power plants operate first by burning gas and then with diesel. But this is not the whole story. Power plants in Iran mainly use gas in the first 6 months of the year. This strategy was chosen to store liquid fuel in tanks during these six months so that liquid fuel can be burned to provide electricity during the second and colder 6 months of the year. The same strategy and decision that causes us to deal with more air pollution in the second 6 months of the year. However, this old strategy was changed in the late Raisi government, which resulted in the current blackouts.
Change in the power plant fuel portfolio
The most important decision that caused the winter blackouts of 1403 is the decision of the government’s oil minister, Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, and his deputy, Shah Mirzaei, to allocate fuel to the country’s refineries. Power plants in Iran received a total of 5 billion cubic meters less gas in the first 6 months of the year, and as a result, they were forced to make up for this shortage by burning liquid fuel. Thus, on August 31, when the government of Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi ended, the liquid fuel reserves for the power plants should have been about 3 billion liters, but incredulously, this number was about one billion. Thus, the power plants entered the cold six months of the year with one-third of their liquid fuel reserves. Thus, a harsh winter began for Iranians.