Iranian authorities closed schools and offices in Tehran for a second consecutive day on December 16 due to "cold weather and energy consumption management," highlighting the country's ongoing struggle with energy supplies despite holding the world's second-largest natural gas reserves.

The closures, becoming increasingly common in recent years, reflect a broader crisis as Iran battles usable gas supplies, dangerous pollution levels, and electricity rationing even in central Tehran. Local power companies have been forced to implement periodic shutdowns across the capital and other regions, with outages lasting several hours.

"Living in the Sohrevardi area of the city, you would expect we wouldn't be affected by these power cuts, but we are experiencing outages for five hours daily," a Tehran resident told IntelliNews, speaking on condition of anonymity. "How can I work from home if the power company cannot maintain a consistent electricity supply?"

The situation has particularly affected remote workers, who, like their global counterparts, shifted to home offices following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Both remote and office-based workers now face growing challenges in completing basic tasks.

Conditions are even more severe in the southern provinces of Khuzestan, Hormozgan, and Kerman, where authorities have ordered businesses to close or limit operations due to a combination of dust storms and pollution, another issue forcing schools to shut down due to the changing regional climate.

Colder than Scotland 

The National Meteorological Organisation's Forecasting Centre reported that 480 out of 675 weather stations across the country recorded sub-zero temperatures. Ardabil Airport in the north registered minus 27 degrees Celsius as the coldest location.

The crisis intensified after a cold front from Russia entered Iran on December 15, pushing temperatures below zero in most northern provinces.

President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration has launched a "two degrees less" campaign, urging citizens to lower their thermostats. Government ministers have taken to social media, sharing photos of their unheated, unlit offices to demonstrate compliance.

"We apologise for conditions where people have to be somewhat conforming," Pezeshkian said at an event in Tehran on Saturday, promising to prevent similar situations next year. "We will either find or make a way to ensure our people don't face such problems."

The president noted that Iranian households consume two to three times more electricity and gas than their European counterparts, straining national resources and contributing to pollution. Government subsidies for high energy usage come at the expense of public welfare and employee compensation, he added.

Despite holding an estimated 34 trillion cubic metres of proven natural gas reserves, Iran's daily gas consumption is expected to reach 680mn m³ in the coming days. The country faces a gas shortage of 200mn m³ daily, increasing to 300mn m³ during winter months.

The National Gas Company (NIGC) assured the public that despite network pressure, it has "no plans to cut gas supplies to residential and commercial sectors." Grid Control Chief Gholamreza Kooshki told state broadcaster IRIB that residential supply remains a "red line," with any necessary restrictions applied to industrial users and power plants.

Gas shortages in Iran

"Industrial gas quotas have been reduced to minimum required levels due to increased residential and commercial consumption," Kooshki said. "If consumption continues to rise, we may face power cuts in industrial and power plant sectors."

Despite widespread closures, households and small businesses consumed 71% of the gas pumped into the national network on Friday. As the cold wave progresses, more provinces have announced shutdowns for Sunday.

Iran's struggles to supply enough gas to households and industries exacerbate the situation. This has led to the increased use of more polluting fuels like mazut in power plants, which has contributed to deteriorating air quality in major cities. This has compounded the challenges faced by residents and businesses alike.

Government officials from various ministries have joined the energy conservation campaign, and many have documented their compliance with the "two degrees less" initiative through social media posts and public statements.

But the sheer weight of Iran's gas and electricity network is coming back to haunt it due to the lack of investment in recent years. 

Energy expert Hossein Mirafzali has recently told Shargh daily that Iran has the world’s longest network of residential gas pipelines.

“Of the 1.5mn kilometres of gas pipelines on the planet (excluding international lines), a significant portion caters to industries and power plants. However, in Iran alone, 430,000 kilometres of gas pipelines supply homes in cities and villages,” he says.

Mirafzali said that 95% of Iranian households are now connected to the national gas grid. “This is even though residential gas consumption is primarily limited to heating, which governments in Iran could have provided through electricity instead of spending exorbitantly on gas pipelines.”

According to the expert, building such a vast gas transmission network has amounted to  $30bn.

Iran’s Oil Ministry officials estimate that addressing the gas shortfall and developing the necessary infrastructure would require an annual investment of $13bn over the next eight years — a figure that appears unfeasible given the economic constraints imposed by US sanctions.