Electricity industry restructuring in Iran

Iran, as a developing country with a growing population, has an increasing energy consumption. In particular, the electricity consumption with the average annual growth rate of 7.24% has been increasing considerably over the past two decades. In step with the changes in the world electricity industry, initial steps towards restructuring in Iran's electricity industry were taken during the 1990s, resulting in the launching of Iranian wholesale electricity market in November 2003. Achieving long-term security of supply, clarification of the electricity price and the attraction of the private investments are some of the main goals of the electricity industry restructuring in Iran. The privatization and breaking of the governmental monopoly was officially started in 2000 with the beginning of the third development plan, which led to the 48.05% contribution of the private sector in the annual energy generation in 2015. This paper investigates the process of restructuring in Iranian electricity industry comprehensively. The current situation and the history of Iran's electricity industry, as well as the operating principles of Iran's electricity market and its prominent characteristics including its regulations, entities and administrative process, are discussed in this paper. Moreover, some of the results including privatization process and the changes in the electricity price are investigated in this paper. •Presenting electricity industry restructuring in Iran.•Electrical energy industry in Iran: History and current situations.•Privatization in electrical energy industry in Iran.•The operating regulations and principles of Iran's electricity market.•Results from the restructuring in Iran's electricity industry.